Call MeMaybe?
by NCISVILLE
Summary: The phone call that should have happened. Skye wasn't sure when it had all started. Okay, no, she did know when. It had started exactly seven months ago one late Saturday night as she was sitting on the motel bed scrolling through Tumblr. What she didn't know was that she'd let it go on for so long, and that she'd become anxious when he wasn't there. Was this where Skye imagined


**Merry Christmas Sam! Love you! This is for you.**

Call Me…Maybe?

 _Skye wasn't sure when it had all started. Okay, no, she did know when. It had started exactly seven months ago one late Saturday night as she was sitting on the motel bed scrolling through Tumblr. What she didn't know was that she'd let it go on for so long, and that she'd become anxious when he wasn't there. Was this where Skye imagined herself being? Um…yeah no, but now she couldn't imagine not being here in this position._

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In the midst of a stakeout mission, someone she hadn't been able to recognize, bumped into her. Later that night after she'd changed and was sitting in bed trying to sleep by scrolling through Tumblr, she heard a phone begin to ring.

Skye shot up in bed, instantly on guard. It wasn't the fact she was getting a call that had her on guard. It was the fact that a phone was ringing and it wasn't her own. She had personalized ringtones on her phone. This one was your standard at&t telephone ring. Skye quickly went looking for the phone and picked it up just before the last ring.

"Who the hell is this?" She spoke as forcefully as she could trying not to convey the fact she was freaked out by this mysterious phone.

A small chuckle came through the phone and Skye could have sworn she felt the vibration on her cheek. That one small sound was so familiar and at one point it was everything Skye wanted. Now…now it was everything she couldn't stand.

"I should have known." Her voice was much colder and there was a small growl that resulted.

"Sorry for the lateness of the call. I figured this was a conversation best had at night when you were alone."

"And what makes you think I'm alone and that there isn't a man in my bed?" Skye retorted knowing she would throw Ward off his game. She smirked a little hearing the small hitch in his breathing. "Just spit it out Ward, and while you're at it why don't you give me a damn good convincing reason for why the hell I don't have Coulson trace this call and hunt you down."

"Wow, that's awfully hostile of you Skye." She could hear his cocky smile through the phone and it served to annoy her even more. She gritted her teeth to bite back her threatening remark. "Well…for one you can't trace this phone, little something my techie boy Daniel did for us. And two…stay out of Barcelona tomorrow Skye." His tone was noticeably darker and more serious upon the second part of his explanation.

She scoffed and if she could, she'd cross her arms. "I'm going to ignore the fact that you know where I am, and the mission I'm on, and I'm going to cut straight to the chase. Why would I not complete my mission?"

"Because it's a trap Skye." He said gravely. "They know you're coming and they're going to kill you. I know you're stubborn and you want to prove me wrong because you think with your powers you're strong enough but you're one person Skye." His tone had lost all undertones of teasing and irritating cockiness.

"Why do you care Ward?" She asked exasperated, throwing her one arm up.

"My team is here and I'm going in tonight. I'll call you have when you have the all clear to go in the morning."

"What makes you think I'm going to keep this phone Ward and not smash it under my foot the moment you hang up?" She asked with a small laugh.

"I meant what I said when I said I'd never lie to you Skye. I never wanted to hurt you and I'm not going to let that happen now. So just let me and my team work and I'll let you take the person of interest in after we're done with them. I promise you he'll still be breathing and able to give you the answers you're looking for."

"Why are you helping me Ward? I want answers, not BS. Tell me right now why you still give a damn even after I shot you. Because I thought that was a clear indicator that we had nothing left."

"I love you…Skye. I'll call you later." He said softly before disconnecting.

Skye's heart stopped beating for a moment and she felt herself zone out, the sound of her breathing filling her ears. It wasn't until a few moments later she felt the room around her begin shaking and she had to pull herself out of her head to stop the vibrations. Ward's confession had truly shaken her and she wasn't sure why it had such a big impact on her. It shouldn't have, but if she was honest with herself…she actually really liked hearing it. Except she couldn't…didn't… like it because she just couldn't accept that. Ward had gone after her friends, hurt a lot of them, hurt her too, so there was no way she could like him. Nope. Nope. Not at all. So why was his confession rattling her so much? Why was she pacing around the room, shaking and why was she clutching the phone in her hand?

Skye stopped moving and took in a few deep, calming breaths. She just had to compartmentalize everything and then she'd be fine. Yeah. Just like May had taught her. Skye breathed in and out and imagined putting it in a box and burying that box in a grave labeled Ward. After a few minutes she smiled and felt more calm and under control. She walked back over to bed and set the phone down on the nightstand before crawling in bed and going to sleep.

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Skye blinked her eyes blearily and reached for the offending noise that had woken her up. It was that cursed phone going off. She was going to have to change that ringtone because it was annoying as hell.

"Hello?" She asked groggily.

"Warehouse is all clear Skye."

"Why the hell did you wake me up? Do you know what time it is?" She asked peering at the clock herself. "It's five o' clock Grant!" She yelled annoyed.

"This is what time I would normally wake you up for training." He retorted trying to fight a smile at her calling him Grant.

"Yeah and do you remember what I used to do to you?" She quipped threateningly.

"I swear I still have a bruise on my thigh from your foot." He chuckled.

Skye laughed with him and then yawned. She didn't know why she was even listening to him right now and why she hadn't just hung up. Maybe it was the earliness of the hour that had disabled her ability to remember she actually hated him. Maybe that's why she was laughing with him. In an attempt to get back on track she re-directed their conversation. "Can I go back to sleep now Ward? I'm really tired. I wouldn't have been getting up for the mission until eight. Now go away and let me sleep or I'll kick you the next time I see you."

Ward chuckled and said, "Yeah. Thanks for letting me go ahead. You would have been killed if you were stubborn."

"Something told me my ex-S.O. would have been stubborn and been waiting for me to go in anyways." She replied with another yawn.

"Goodnight Skye."

"Yup. Night." She said hanging up the phone and letting her head fall back down on the pillow.

XxxxXXxxxSkyeWardxxxXXxxxX

Skye walked into the warehouse at ten a.m., weapons drawn, just in case and saw her target chained to a column. He looked unconscious from her angle as she walked into the place. It was clear that Ward and his team had been there. There were blood stains and it almost looked like her target had been tortured first as she got closer to him. Once she was sure that her surroundings were clear she set her gun down to check his pulse point.

"He's not dead. Just like I promised." Skye gasped in surprise and grabbed her gun, whipping around to a standing position with her gun now pointed at Ward.

The man had come out from the shadows and was leaning against one of the other columns. Skye took a moment to take in his appearance. He looked just as attractive as the last time she'd seen him, if not more so with that leather jacket on. Even from a short distance his scars were apparent to her. She took in a breath and watched as he continued to advance despite her weapon still trained on him.

"Are you gonna shoot me again?" He asked with a grin.

"Oh shut up." Skye mumbled putting her weapon away.

"Wow. You're holstering your gun? That's big for you." Ward teased now a foot away from her.

"Mind telling me what you're doing here?" She asked him annoyed.

Ward shrugged and said, "Figured you'd want an explanation of what happened."

"What _did_ happen?"

"There was a ten man team waiting for you here. We took them by surprise so they never had time to put their snipers in place. They had old Hydra tech Skye, the same kind that took Lincoln and Deathlock. Anyways, we stormed in, took out the non-important ones, and I took care of Mr. Diaz over there." Ward said pausing and nodding his head toward their unconscious man.

"He looks a little beat up."

"Eh, I made him tell me what his plans were with you. I may have expressed some frustrations." He non-challantly explained, shrugging his shoulders.

"Right." She said slowly, unsure what to say next.

Ward chuckled and took a step closer, successfully invading her personal space. This time her breath hitched and she tried looking anywhere but at him. She was unsuccessful in her attempts and wound up looking directly in his eyes. She found his gaze flitting from her eyes to her lips. She knew she should move, could take a step back, but found it impossible to break away. His hand found its' way onto the small of her back and held her close as he slowly leaned his head down, eyes closed.

Skye's eyes widened but rather than tear herself away she found her lips reaching up to meet his. Her brain was screaming for her to stop, to not go through with this. When their lips touched she felt the familiarity behind them and felt pleased from the warmth being emitted by them. Ward kissed her ever so gently but she could feel the emotion behind it and it was enough to drive her mad. She wound her arms around his neck and for a moment disconnected their lips so she could jump up and wrap her legs around his waist. He caught her momentum easy enough and held her up reconnecting their lips as soon as she was wrapped around him.

She didn't know what had come over her. Maybe it was being in such close proximity to him or maybe it was hearing his words on repeat in her brain.

 _I love you Skye._

She kissed him with so much longing, imagining the way things should have been and could have been. He didn't seem to mind her impromptu jump and even backed them up to a column so her back was supported. Skye lost track of time until Ward pulled back panting and set her down.

"Sorry. Think I pulled my stitches." He didn't show any pain besides a small wince.

"Shit. Sorry, sorry. Take your shirt off. Let me see it." Skye said, unsure why she was so concerned.

Ward grimaced as he took of his jacket and inhaled a sharp breath. He closed his eyes and took another breath. Skye put a hand on his chest and looked into his eyes for a moment before taking the hem of his shirt and helping him out of it with as little grimacing as possible. She turned him around and despite not seeing her face Ward knew that she was giving him her upset face.

"The stitches are torn, aren't they?"

"Yes, you idiot." She reprimanded.

Ward cursed Hunter once again under his breath before saying, "I don't suppose you have a first aid kit with you?"

"No. Do you have someone nearby who can bring one? One of your lackeys perhaps?"

"Yeah. Lemme make a call." He huffed drawing his phone out of his pocket. "Kebo…I need a stitching kit asap…yes, I'm still at the warehouse. No, she didn't shoot me again." Skye looked at him with an eyebrow raised and crossed her arms. "Actually she's standing right here giving me her angry puppy eyes. Would you just bring me the kit please, I'm bleeding out here. Thank you. See you soon." Ward hung up the phone rolling his eyes and looked back at Skye.

"I hope you know how stupid you are Ward." Skye huffed frustrated.

He laughed and shook his head. "A minute ago you were kissing me without complaints, but now that I'm hurt I'm stupid?"

"Yes." She said punching his chest taking her frustrations with herself out on him.

"Ow. That actually does hurt you know. I just got this re-stitched by Kebo literally two hours ago without any meds."

"Oh don't be a baby. And for the record, this doesn't change anything. We're still enemies Ward. You still betrayed me…us." His cheery disposition changed and took on a tone of sorrow and anguish. "You tortured my friend, broke her leg, and she's missing a part of her lung. Fitz is better now but he's still different Ward. You hurt him and that's not something you can take back."

"I know, Skye. But I won't apologize for Bobbi. She did that to herself. All I was after was a simple apology from her for Kara. Did you know that she gave up the location of a secure safe house to Hydra? It was Kara's safe house. Bobbi is the reason Kara became just Agent 33 and you know what…Bobbi showed no remorse. I showed remorse for my actions against all of you when I was with Garrett. I still regret them Skye because I miss you. But I don't feel sorry for what I did to Bobbi and you can hate me for that but nothing will change my mind. She's responsible for what happened to Kara and I did the best I could to help her." Ward said beginning to get louder and upset again.

Skye found herself upset with both Bobbi and Ward in that moment. She had never heard the story behind Kara but hearing it come from Ward who she knew not to be lying…it left her feeling a little sick.

"I need some air." She said just above a whisper walking away from him.

Skye tried processing this information and despite his conviction with his actions and his apathy to Bobbi…she wondered why it didn't bother her as much as it should. He was the enemy after all…sort of. Skye sat down in a corner of the warehouse and held her face in her hands trying to sort out her emotions with each respective person.

She glanced over at Ward who hadn't moved and she saw all the things he'd done wrong in one moment, but in the next she saw his gentle caress, warm lips, his confession of love being uttered from those lips, she saw the man she'd fallen in love with for better or worse. But she couldn't give in to those feelings, not again. She couldn't let his words overwrite his actions. She had to remind herself of what it was he did on a daily basis. He did stuff like torture people, kill them, and cause chaos. He betrayed. It was only when another person entered the warehouse that she got up from the corner and went back over to Ward, more composed now.

"Got the kit boss. This her?" Kebo asked nodding his head to Skye, his eyes roaming over her curiously, as though he was comparing the image of her inn his head with the image he had been presented with in person.

"Skye meet Kebo, my right hand man. Kebo, Skye, the girl who shot me four times." Ward introduced. "She's gonna stitch me up this time. Thanks for coming so quickly."

Kebo nodded and handed the kit to Skye. "I'll be waiting in the car. Nice to meet you Skye, don't shoot him again please."

"Just this once." Skye replied taking the kit from Kebo. "Sit down." She commanded Ward who did as he was told. She knelt down behind him and first wiped away all the blood and made sure to clean the wound with alcohol again. "Hunter got a good shot off I see." Ward chose not to answer and she matched his silence as she fixed him up. "Don't tear it again please." Skye said getting up and walking over to her prisoner.

"Thanks." Ward said looking at her quietly. He carefully pulled his shirt back on and watched Skye secure her prisoner. She threw him over her shoulder and met Ward's eyes before leaving.

"Goodbye Ward."

"Goodbye." He repeated. "I love you Skye." He said quickly, almost as if he had been afraid to say it to her and wanted it said fast so he couldn't psych himself out of it.

Skye paused in her walk and turned her head to look at him. She gave him a small smile and replied, "I know." She walked back out the door and threw Mr. Diaz into the back seat of her car making sure to secure him and made sure to hit him once with the icer ensuring his continued unconsciousness.

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A month had passed since she'd received the phone from Ward and it had yet to ring again. She kept it hidden in her nightstand on the base to make sure no one found it and inquired about an encrypted burner phone that didn't belong to S.H.I.E.L.D. As much as she tried to deny it, she found herself being drawn back to her make out session with Ward every night in her dreams. She wondered if he was slowly going mad this way too.

Skye was laying in bed reading when she heard the phone begin to ring. The first three rings she stared at her nightstand trying to figure out if she was dreaming. The next ring she was scrambling from her bed and running to lock the door. As it continued to ring she ran back to the nightstand and dug it flipping the phone open to answer the call. She took a moment to compose herself and sound like she wasn't frazzled by the call.

"Hello?"

"You didn't get rid of it." Ward said, his voice having a touch of glee in it.

"Well the last time you used it to save my life. Figured it might be useful to keep around." She said trying to play it cool.

"Guess you're not too far off. I have some information for you."

"What is it?"

"I want you to meet me at the diner in Los Angeles."

"Do you realize how far away that is? What am I supposed to say? I'm meeting Ward for information?"

"No, of course not. Just tell them you have a valuable CI you need to go out to meet. You'll be back in a day, I promise."

"What's this about Ward?" Skye asked unhappy that he was beckoning her all the way across the country, not that he would know that.

"Lash." Skye inhaled sharply and ran a hand through her hair.

"I'll be there tomorrow at six."

"Great. It's a date." Ward said hanging up before Skye could correct him.

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Skye walked into the diner and rolled her eyes upon seeing Ward sitting at the same booth they had last time. He already had food ordered and what looked to be a cup of coffee for each of them. Good, she was going to need it. Again his past words rang in her ears.

 _I love you Skye._

 _It's a date._

Skye took a shaky breath and walked over to Ward whose lips stretched up in a smile upon seeing her. She sat across from him offering a tiny smile as she took her place.

 _Keep it professional Skye, no making out this time. No touching of any kind._

"Glad you could make it." He said warmly before taking a sip of his coffee. Skye did the same and gave a nod.

"Well you said you had information about someone we're tracking."

"Correction, someone who's tracking you."

Skye froze mid bite into her burger Ward had so kindly ordered for her. She choked down the mouthful of meat and set it down looking at him in a way that portrayed her as his vulnerable rookie again.

"What?" She croaked, her throat suddenly cracked and dry.

"I'm having my guys keep close tabs on the radio about you. So any chatter from anywhere concerning you they run it by me. Long story short, I was told yesterday an hour before I called you that Lash is hunting you and looking to set up a trap."

Skye closed her eyes and took a deep breath processing his information. She managed to keep her heart rate low despite all the raging emotions fighting for her attention.

"Where is he now?" She asked, eyes still closed.

"Here in Los Angeles. He's looking for something here to lure you in."

"Then why the hell am I here if you're so keen on protecting me." She whisper hissed trying not to cause a scene.

"Because you are safe with me Skye. I wanted to bring you here so it would be more believable when you went back and told Coulson." Ward explained simply.

"I hope you're not going to attempt to attack him. You saved my life once so let me repay the favor. Don't try Ward. There's a reason not many of us are still alive after an encounter with him. He's powerful, more powerful than Lincoln and I combined, so please, don't go after him."

"Skye, if I didn't know any better I'd say you were concerned about my wellbeing." Ward cockily said with a smirk.

"What? No. I'm just trying to keep you from acting stupid…idiot." She said trying to seem detached by insulting him.

Ward just grinned and sipped his coffee again. "Right. There's more that I found out about this guy though. He's going around finding inhumans and judging whether they're worthy of their new powers. He's actually an inhuman himself. Anyway, this guy controls energy. Lash can convert energy from various sources and emit it from his palms. His powers are capable of disintegrating a living being, as I'm sure you're aware."

"Yeah, he blows a hole right through them." Skye affirmed.

"He can draw the necessary force needed to convert said energy into another energy form for him to use. He can control whatever energy he happens to have on hand at the time for a variety of effects beyond just disintegration blasts. What that variety consists of I don't know beyond a shield to protect himself."

"Wow. How'd you manage to find all that out?"

"Like I said, I have a team of guys who monitor things concerning you."

"Is…Kebo a part of said group?" Skye asked unsure if she'd said the right name.

"He heads it, yes. Nice memory." Ward nodded thoroughly impressed.

"So…um…how, how have you been Ward?" Skye asked flitting her gaze from the food she now held again and his eyes.

He smiled warmly at her and replied, "I'm doing good. The GSW is healing nicely. Only tore my stitches another two times after you. But it was either tear the stitches or risk my team getting hurt. Believe it or not…I'm actually working through some old trauma. One of the people I recruited, she used to be a psychiatrist and every so often I'll stop by and talk things out with her."

"You…you're seeing a therapist?" Skye asked thoroughly shocked.

"It's not un heard of." He retorted with a snort of indignation.

"I practically had to pry information out of you. You never told me much except that your brother, Christian, used to have you beat up your younger brother and that your parents were bad as well." Skye said still shocked by his admission.

"Yeah well…I'm trying to do things differently now. I'm not your enemy Skye."

"Except that you kinda are. Ward, you're the new head of Hydra and you're coming after us." She spoke not following his logic.

"Not you, Shield. It should have died Skye. Coulson isn't making things better, he's making things worse. I know all about his covert operations with the ATCU, their partnership. I know that he made a trade with them. He gave Lincoln over to protect your secret and he's not gonna stop there. I know you've seen first hand his questionable actions and decisions. You can't sit here and tell me that you think Shield is still the same organization you wanted to join."

She cast her gaze down to the table. He wasn't wrong there. Every day she began to lose more and more faith in Coulson and she hated that, but he wasn't the same person she'd met that fateful day.

"You make questionable decisions too Ward, don't try and act better than him." She said glancing up to meet his gaze.

"I am better Skye. Not in the way you're thinking, but I am. I may well be a killer and the man who betrayed you, but not anymore. I stick to my morals and I don't break them what so ever. I don't kill anyone without a reason. This time I'm the director of an organization and I'm the one who's making the rules, not blindly following them. Everyone who works for me has proved themselves loyal and a lot of them I found in the same place I was when Garrett snatched me up and abused me for himself. Except this time I'm showing them the potential they have. I'm giving them the opportunity to choose who they want to be. I inspire respect and loyalty in everyone under me. Hunter killed one of those men trying to kill me. His name was Patrick. And he never thought twice about jumping in front of me to save my life. That's the kind of people who work for me Skye, can you say the same about everyone in Shield?" He paused for a moment to allow her to chime in but she didn't. "You have discourse in Shield and a leader who you all question. I have unity, loyalty, and morality. Sure it may be a little skewed, but morality none the less."

"Just…stop. I don't want to talk about this anymore Ward." Skye said shooting him a threatening glare.

He raised his hands in surrender and moved to pick up his coffee. Skye silently began to finish her meal going over what he'd said. He definitely had made some good points. There were some places he was wrong but for the majority of his monologue she actually agreed with him.

"What was your transformation like?" Ward asked after some time had passed and they'd both calmed back down.

"Oh? You mean into…Quake?"

He grinned at her code name and nodded. "Yeah. That."

"Scary." She admitted pushing a fry into her mouth. "They put me in quarantine for a while. Fitz was the only one who wasn't afraid of me." She reminisced, her lips turning up in a smile at Fitz.

Ward hummed a small laugh and smiled. "He's a good man."

"That he is." Skye agreed. "I was really afraid of hurting everyone because I couldn't control it very well and I would cause the whole base to shake and I shattered glass every time I got upset. At one point I shot myself with an icer to calm myself down. When I met my mom and the other inhumans it felt like I was at home for a bit. Lincoln was the one who helped transition me and before you ask, there wasn't really any chemistry there. I tried to force it because I mean he is a good guy but after our first kiss…it just…didn't compare." She explained shooting him a glance. Ward's once locked jaw became relaxed and a smile replaced the scowl on his face. "Anyways, my mom and Lincoln both helped me learn the basics of how to control and channel my powers. I can tap into any vibration. I can feel the vibrations of your heart right now." Ward grinned and he seemed to be enjoying her story, for the most part anyways. "After the big debacle with my mom and her trying to kill me and my dad going through the Tahiti protocol after killing her…well that's when I started to fine tune my powers and I'm the one who finished teaching myself how to control it."

"And now you're quite the badass." He said supplying her with her next sentence.

Skye laughed and shook her head. "Well, I still can't beat Bobbi or May in a fight so I don't know how badass that really makes me."

"Give it time. I wasn't this trained in just a year Skye. It took me close to ten years to become this skilled."

"Skilled enough to beat Bobbi in a fight." She argued.

"To be fair she was injured when we fought and she got in her share of punches. But yes, I am still a better fighter. My point is though, you'll get there someday."

"I know I could have beat you in that fight." Skye said cockily.

Ward crossed his arms and gave her a curious inquiring look. "How do you figure."

"Well…" She began, leaning forward to expose just a bit of cleavage as she looked at him. "It's quite simple." Her foot slid up his leg and rest on his thigh. She saw his demeanor change instantly and she knew just a little bit more and she'd have him hook, line, and sinker. "You see, all I'd have to do is just get close enough to you." Skye whispered and withdrew her foot, quickly getting up from the booth and sliding into his side of the booth. She sat sideways and sat on her foot making sure to have her knee touch his thigh. She watched his eyes darken slightly as her hand began running up his arm. "Once I got close enough then I'd close in for the strike." She whispered into his ear.

She felt him shiver and saw how his eyes fluttered close. Unfortunately she felt her own stomach begin to flutter and her elevated heart rate matched Ward's. She had promised herself there would be no touching or kissing but now that she was in his personal space she found herself drawn to him once again as she had in that warehouse in Barcelona. It'd been a month and she'd been craving his warmth. His kiss and warm embrace was what she'd dreamt about for the past month. It was at that moment her phone rang, successfully destroying the moment and shaking the both of them out of the trance they'd held over one another.

Skye moved away from him quickly and answered her phone without checking the caller ID. She'd already wasted a lot of time stumbling out of Ward's side of the booth.

"Go for Skye." She said trying to keep an even tone.

Ward observed her phone call and watched how her once rattled appearance changed to that of concern mixed with what seemed to be guilt and stoicism.

When she hung up and walked back over he was not expecting the news she was going to deliver. "That was Coulson. He needs me asap. Apparently we got a tip from the ATCU about the location of your base."

She watched as realization dawned on him. "Where?"

"Houston."

"Damn it." He ran a hand through his hair and breathed out a frustrated breath. "When are you going in?" Skye couldn't believe herself right now and she couldn't believe Ward had the audacity to ask her for more information than she'd already given.

"He has a team on the way to scout out now. We're storming the place tomorrow morning at six am and he wants me to meet up with them."

"Shit." He groaned.

"What do you have there?"

"Our training facility and hospital." He said rubbing his hands over his eyes.

"How many bases do you have exactly?" Skye asked curiously.

"We have Nemesis, Omega Point, and G4. The place you mentioned we call, The Farm." Ward got up and grabbed his jacket throwing some cash on the table.

"G4?" She asked with a smirk.

"Yup." He said not responding to her bait. Ward threw on his jacket and began walking out wondering why he'd shared with Skye the names of his bases. In fact he was wondering why she'd alerted him of Shield's impending attack.

Skye followed him outside and paused when he stopped at a car and pulled out the keys. "You're not seriously going to try driving to Texas, right?"

He smirked and replied, "No. But I'm very well not walking to my hotel."

"Oh. You're not going to The Farm?" She asked, unsure why she was even using his codename for it.

"I wouldn't make it there in time first of all, second of all, I have someone in charge down there who can handle the situation. They don't need me and I wouldn't make myself a target. The benefits of being Director of your own organization, having others in charge of subdivisions so you don't have to walk into a trap."

"Oh, yeah. Right." She said mentally chiding herself for not thinking about that.

"It was nice seeing you again. I'll keep you updated on Lash. Be careful out there, okay?"

Skye tried to fight a smile. He was concerned for her wellbeing.

"You too…Director." She added with a grin.

"Please, don't call me that again." He chuckled unlocking the car. He was just about to get in when Skye grabbed his arm and against her better judgment placed a gentle kiss to his lips.

He tasted like a blend of black coffee and just…Ward. It was everything she remembered and had dreamed about. His warm lips softly massaged hers and she felt his hand ever so gently pressed against the small of her back. He was a damn good kisser and Skye wanted more, so much more, but he kept it gentle and tender. Ward was the one to break the kiss and a gentle smile was on his face. His whole demeanor seemed so relaxed now and had Skye not known him she would have thought he was a gentle person.

"Till next time Skye." He spoke in a hushed tone, smile on his face. She nodded still feeling like she was floating and not really able to comprehend much of anything. He chuckled and pressed another short, warm kiss to her lips. "Mmm, I'll never tire of that. Stay safe please."

"You too." She mumbled staring at him as though she was seeing him through someone else's eyes. She wanted to just get in that car and make out with him for a second time but she had to fly a Quinn jet to Houston. It was already nearing seven p.m. and it'd take a couple hours to fly from LA to Houston, not to mention the time change. She stepped back onto the sidewalk and watched him pull away in his beautiful sports car.

She stood staring after him for a while unable to comprehend the events of the last hour. Had she really just warned him about an ambush? Had she just compromised a mission before it began for an enemy? Had she really flirted and kissed an enemy again? Was he really an enemy? Was she really starting to get on more even ground with Ward? Was she really starting to like him again? Was this more than just a physical attraction? Skye contemplated all of these things as she made her way back to the Quinn jet and even during the duration of the flight.

XxxxXXxxxSkyeWardxxxXXxxxX

The next time Ward called was just two weeks after she'd seen him and warned him about the impending attack on his training base slash hospital. They'd come up empty handed and the place was completely cleared out by the time they stormed the building both to Skye's relief and chagrin.

He called while Fitz was in her room, and to avoid suspicion she let it ring through. She told Fitz she just changed a ringtone on her phone and let out a breath of relief when he bought it with only a jab at her declining stance on regular ringtones. She claimed it was a mistake she hadn't fixed yet and was glad when Fitz dropped it. She silently prayed Ward would call her again later. Fitz left just ten minutes after the first call and Skye sat on her bed holding out her phone waiting. Fifteen minutes later, rather than a call she received a text.

 _Is it safe to call?_

She texted back a simple answer.

 _Yes._

She bit her lip in anticipation, her heart beating faster at the chance to hear his voice again. Just another second later and the phone was ringing. She answered before the first ring had been completed and held the phone to her ear.

"That was quick." Ward said, his voice sounding surprised.

"You just texted me, did you think I had the phone on the opposite side of the room?" She retorted not telling him she'd been anxiously clutching it for a while.

"I guess that's true."

"So what's up? Have you got some new information?" Skye asked trying to get comfortable and sound normal.

"Actually I was just calling to see how you were doing."

"Oh." Her surprise must have come through clearly on his end because she heard him chuckle. "Um, I'm doing good. Things are getting a little overwhelming here. I have the ATCU breathing down my back, I'm trying to keep a lookout for Lash whenever I'm out in the field on a mission, and Coulson and I keep clashing more and more." She said letting out her frustrations.

"What about? Personal stuff or mission stuff?"

"Both. One I can't fault him because I'm basically doing the exact same thing with you but the other…I'm just…I'm fed up with how every single lead I get on a new inhuman he gives it over to Rosalind. It's not like they have pure intentions over at the ATCU. They don't understand how to help people like me and they frankly don't care. They want to neutralize us and they don't mind doing so with a bullet. I hate that we're working with them and the longer it goes on the more it bothers me." Skye vented.

"I see. Sorry you guys are fighting more and more. I mean I don't like the guy anymore but I know you guys were close before."

Skye sighed and shook her head. "It's okay, it's just something I have to deal with."

"Still, I know how important family is to you and how rough it's been."

"Yeah. What about you? You guys were completely cleared out of The Farm by the time we got there."

"Thanks for that. I'm doing well for the most part. Shoulder is almost completely back in working order, had another meeting with Shelley today, the psychiatrist, and we talked about you some. She said I needed to be sure to thank you profusely since you so kindly warned me about the attack."

"I didn't want there to be a blood bath, Hunter, Bobbi, and May are out for blood and they don't care who they take down to get to you. You said yourself you have good people on your team and…I owed you for Barcelona."

"Still, thank you. That would have really set us back with this last mission had we lost that base."

"Mission?" Skye inquired.

"Yeah. Some old head of Hydra that some are still afraid of. I'm currently tracking him down in Africa."

"You're in Africa?!"

"Yup. Have been for the last four days actually."

"Oh. Is it hot there?"

"It's not unbearable if that's what you're asking." He supplied.

"Yeah." Skye chuckled.

"How's life in DC?"

"Good." Skye answered before freezing. How had Ward known where she was?

He must have sensed her discomfort because he gave her an explanation in the next second. "I've known where your base is for a while. I choose not to attack because I don't want to risk you being caught in the crossfire."

"How do you manage to know everything?"

"I don't know everything."

"You found out about two conspiracies on my life, and now you know where our secret base is? What could you possibly not know."

"Why you've kept the phone and why you kissed me last time we were together."

Skye swallowed the lump in her throat. She knew one day he'd ask her a question similar to this but she still didn't have an answer. Not really. She couldn't explain anything when it came to Ward. She didn't know why she gave him information that would save him. She didn't know why every time she was around him she just wanted to feel him hold her and taste his lips. She didn't know why she was so anxious and excited every time he called. She didn't know anything.

"I…I don't know."

"Right." He sounded rather dejected and she wondered what he was hoping to hear her say. Did he want her to say 'I love you'? She couldn't even admit that she liked him. She didn't understand any of her emotions. None of it made sense.

She decided to quickly change the subject and spoke up. "Oh, I never did thank you for buying me dinner the other week."

She could tell she'd cleared up the clouds as she could hear his smile through the phone. She could even picture him wearing that smile that made his eyes sparkle.

"You're welcome. I figured the least I could do was buy you dinner for making you fly all the way out to LA."

"How gentlemanly of you." Skye jested rolling her eyes.

"Only the best for my love."

Silence stretched across both lines and Skye could see him mentally slapping himself for mentioning it.

"Sorry." He said when he spoke again.

"No." Skye said clearing her throat before continuing. "It's okay… I um…I kinda like hearing it. No one's ever said that to me before. Miles…he never actually said it because he never believed in love." Skye laughed to brush off the pain that came with the memory. "Said it was just another thing trivialized in America and that it meant nothing." She said unsure of why she had shared the memory or encouraged him to continue.

"That's because he's a douche bag who never really saw just how incredible you are. He didn't deserve your love anyways Skye." Ward's tone was much more serious now and held more gravity with each word he spoke.

"Maybe, maybe not." She replied shrugging her shoulders even though she knew the truth.

"No. He didn't Skye." He repeated firmer.

This time Skye didn't argue with him.

"Hey, I'm actually getting kind of tired."

"Oh right, sorry. Time difference."

"Yeah." She chuckled. "Stupid thing."

"You need your rest, I'm sure you have training in the morning."

Skye groaned loudly. "God, don't remind me."

This time he laughed and her lips stretched up into a smile hearing his boisterous laughter. She hadn't heard him laugh like that in a very long time.

"Goodnight Skye." He said, a smile still clearly on his face.

"Goodnight Ward." She parroted.

"I love you."

The call disconnected but it left Skye smiling despite herself, and her heart fluttering with butterflies occupying her stomach. This time she didn't fight the feelings and instead closed the phone and stashed it away again as she lay down in bed.

XxxxXXxxxSkyeWardxxxXXxxxX

A few days after their last call she got a text from Ward.

 _Going on a mission about Lash. Might not hear from me for a bit._

Skye had begun carrying her second phone, or 'Douglas' as she'd started to call the phone, around with her every where just so she would never miss a call or text from him. Today that seemed to pay off. She was out with Jemma at a bar when she'd received the text. Jemma must have noticed her concern at his text because she proceeded to confront Skye about what had changed her mood.

Skye quickly tried to cover it up as well as try to convince herself it wasn't a big deal. She then promptly excused herself to the bathroom and watched to make sure Jemma hadn't followed her. Once she was safe and alone in the bathroom Skye withdrew the phone again and bit her lip as she typed out a reply.

 _Call me?_

Not a minute later her phone was ringing. Skye giggled a little at how fast he had responded. Maybe she had had one too many vodka shots.

"Is everything okay Skye?"

Skye could hear the worry in his voice and she thought it was absolutely adorable.

"Ship shape, never better." She replied saluting the air.

"Are…are you drunk?" Ward asked amused.

"Drunk? No. I'd think I'd know if I was drunk." Skye scoffed with certainty that she was not drunk in the slightest.

This got a laugh out of him and the sound of his laughter let loose a cage of butterflies into her stomach.

"You drunk texted me and now you're drunk calling me? Wow, never thought I'd see the day." He teased.

"What are you doing?" Skye changed the subject.

"Packing my last bag. I leave in twenty."

"Oh." She said sad at his answer.

"What is it Skye?"

"Be…be careful…please."

"Of course. You be careful too."

"I will, but you can't get hurt. I like kissing you and I don't want to kiss you again when you're dead." She confessed, letting the alcohol lead her.

"I like kissing you too. Hey, I have to go, Kebo needs me for something."

"Right, yeah. Um, text me when you can… or call me. I like hearing your voice."

"I love you Skye."

"Mmm, say that again." She crowed, closing her eyes and leaning against the bathroom wall. She heard his low chuckle and imagined him shaking his head.

"I love you."

Skye sighed loudly. "I'll let you go now. Would you mind taking a picture and sending it to me before you leave?"

"Only if you do the same."

"Can I do it tomorrow? I'm kind of drunk and not wanting you to have that kind of picture."

"I knew it." He teased. "I'll send you the picture when I hang up."

"Promise me you won't die."

"I promise you I won't die Skye."

"Okay. Good." She smiled.

"I have to go now."

"Right."

"Bye, I'll talk you as soon as I can. I love you." He crooned sweetly before hanging up.

Skye whimpered when the call and his soothing voice ended. Now that she had alcohol pumping through her veins she could really be honest with herself. She absolutely adored the fact that Ward loved her. And she really really liked kissing him. Her stomach always warmed up and it felt like millions of butterflies were released each time he touched her. She liked how his eyes seemed to light up whenever she was near him. She liked the effect her touch had on him and she liked how he held her every time they kissed. She liked how he had a unit set aside with the sole purpose of keeping her safe. She liked him. Liked his smile, his laugh, his voice, his lips, his eyes. She really liked him.

The phone Skye held in her hand resounded and she saw that she had one new multi-media message. She eagerly opened it and saw that he had sent her a picture as promised. He was wearing a dark blue Henley and that sexy brown leather jacket. Ward's lips were turned up slightly in a small smile that actually reached his eyes; and Skye found her breath taken away by this small marvel. He was so beautiful.

"Please stay safe." Skye whispered to the picture of Ward.

When she returned from the bar later that night she climbed into bed and put the phone on the pillow beside her, Ward's smiling face staring at her.

"Goodnight Ward." She murmured before closing her eyes and drifting off to sleep.

XxxxXXxxxSkyeWardxxxXXxxxX

It was five days later when the call came at three a.m.

Skye had been sleeping with Ward's picture on the phone beside her the past five nights so it took but only a second for her to wake up and see that he was calling.

"Ward?" She asked through a yawn.

"Hey." He grunted.

Skye shot up in bed, all thoughts of returning back to sleep gone. "What happened?"

"There was a small hitch in plans. Lash attacked."

"Oh my God, you're hurt. Aren't you?" She asked panic creeping into her voice.

"Shh, calm down Skye. Take a deep breath."

"What happened? Just tell me." She pleaded curling up and holding herself, bracing for the words that he was dying.

"Lash attacked, some of my men died, I barely managed to escape the ambush. From what I can diagnose, I've got a broken rib or two. Oh, and Lash may have managed to burn my side to some degree."

"I told you to be careful!"

"I know. I know. I promise I tried Skye. I'm on the plane headed back to Omega Point now with Kebo. He's pretty banged up himself. We lost a third of our team, some good people."

"This is my fault." Skye croaked.

"What? No it's not. Skye, they knew the risks of the mission and I didn't just set out on this mission because I wanted to keep you safe. Lash needs to be stopped. He's killing a lot of innocent people of your kind."

"I want to be there. Tell me where your base is."

Her demand was met with silence.

"Grant." She said, this time placing emphasis with his first name.

He sighed and replied, "Twenty miles from your base. I'll send you the co-ordinates via text."

Skye ignored the fact that his base was so close to hers and that she wasn't going to reveal this to Coulson and got out of bed.

"What time are you getting in?"

"Uhhh…" Ward looked to his watch before answering. "We're about two hours out."

"I'll see you in two hours then. And just so we're clear…I'm pissed at you."

She couldn't see Ward flinch but took that much away when he replied, "Yes ma'am."

This time Skye was the one to end the call and she got dressed for the gym. She had time and she needed to work out her frustration and concern and try and figure out why she was so willing to omit the location of Ward's base from Coulson and her friends. It certainly wasn't because she loved him. Because the notion of that was preposterous.

XxxxXXxxxSkyeWardxxxXXxxxX

Skye was standing outside what she could only guess was the front entrance to Omega Point. There was a gate and a guard keeping her outside until the time when the 'Director' gave her the all clear. She stood there bouncing from foot to foot. It was five am and no-one at the Playground knew where she was, didn't even know she had left. Her lip was taking the brunt force of her worry and she was sure if she kept biting and gnawing on it that it would soon start bleeding.

"Where the hell are they?" She growled looking at the time displayed on her phone. "He said two hours."

"Director probably just got held up. He always leaves last so he's sure everyone else gets back here safely." The guard, Mike, informed.

Skye ignored how her heart felt after learning that piece of information. Right now she needed to see him so she could reprimand him for being so stupid and breaking his promise.

It was that moment an envoy of cars began to converge into a single line and were headed for the gate. Mike punched in a code and the gate opened just in time for the first SUV to pull through. Another four went through before Skye recognized one of the cars and its' occupants. Ward was the one driving despite holding his middle with an arm. Skye stepped out in front of the car and Ward made an abrupt stop. She met his eyes and she tried to be angry but it only lasted as long as he was in the car. As soon as he got out and she saw the blood and the burnt hole in his shirt she rushed over to him. Skye knew that he was hurt and possibly had a broken rib, but she didn't care. She threw her arms around him and hugged him close. She heard the groan and cry of pain being emitted from his lips but still held him close.

"Skye." He whimpered.

Begrudgingly she let go of him. "I'd be punching you right now if I didn't think that would do more harm than good." She said trying to appear angry.

He chuckled softly. "Come on, I'm going to need your help stitching me up."

Kebo got out of the car and offered his seat up to Skye who took it without arguing. "I'll meet you in the infirmary." He said directing the statement to Ward.

"Yeah. Have Mike give you a ride over. You don't need to be walking anymore on that busted leg Kebo." Ward nodded his head to Mike who began to comply with what the Director had ordered.

When they got to the infirmary Skye ordered him to lay on the cot offered and grabbed a pair of scissors.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa! What do you think you're doing with those?" He asked looking at her with wild eyes.

"I have to cut off your shirt." She said looking at him as though she were having to deal with a child.

"Like hell you do. I love this shirt." He protested.

"Ward…it already has a hole in it and I'm pretty sure you have like a million other Henley's laying around somewhere." She said with a roll of her eyes.

There was some incomprehensive grumbling on his part before she finally heard him growl out the word, "Fine."

After the shirt was cut off Skye gasped seeing the injury Lash had given him. Half of Ward's side was burnt from the energy plasma that Lash had attempted to kill him with. It was almost like looking at picture of someone who had actually been burnt alive in a fire. His skin was charred and bleeding from the burn. She didn't know how he wasn't crying out in pain with every step or breath he took.

"You're going to want something to bite onto when I clean this." She cautioned, looking around the room for something she could give to him.

"I'll be fine. I've been through worse." Ward answered emotionlessly.

"Worse than a charring burn and broken ribs?" She questioned, appalled with his answer.

He gave a tight-lipped smile in response. "Just do what you need to, better you than Kebo anyway."

Skye bit her lip and nodded looking around for a cloth to soak in cold water. She placed it over the six-inch patch of burnt skin to let it soak for five minutes before taking it off to put gauze over the wound.

Ward cried out, hissing at the cloth touching his burnt skin, and white knuckled the bed to try and cope. Skye watched as he steeled himself and wondered what he had been through before that he would not need or want something to help him deal with the pain. He shouldn't have been walking as well as he had been with a broken rib.

"It's okay Grant. I'm here." She said trying to offer some form of comfort for him.

He was only injured because he had been trying to protect her. Ward didn't reply, he only kept his eyes shut and jaw locked. Skye wondered if he was screaming on the inside and placed a hand on his shoulder, gently rubbing circles in his skin. She moved her hand up and caressed his cheek, stroking it with her thumb. His eyes were still closed but despite the pain she knew he was feeling, she watched some of the tension drain from his body. Skye smiled and ran a hand through his hair, massaging his head. His head tilted toward her, leaning into her touch. A huff of a laugh passed through Skye's lips and she continued to massage his head and feel the softness of his hair. It was quickly becoming one of her new favorite things to do besides kiss Ward. Skye kept that up for five minutes until it was time for her to remove the cold, wet cloth from his side. She watched as his lips turned down and he opened his eyes pouting at her.

"Maybe if you're good I'll do it some more later." Skye offered. "But only if you're a good patient."

"I'll be good." He agreed nodding his head.

"Good." She said with a smile. "I'm sorry for what's about to happen next, this is going to hurt." Skye gave an apologetic grimace as she began her search for some gauze as well as something to inject Ward with for the pain. Chances were he would refuse medication but Skye was having none of that.

"I'll be right back." She informed before going out of small room in search for medicine.

Surely they had raided some medical facility at one point or another. She found a few doctors running around and went to one of them to ask about a vial of morphine and a needle. It took some time to actually find what they were talking about but when she did she made sure to have the doctor fill the syringe with the right amount of morphine. Skye quickly thanked the guy before hurrying back off to Ward hiding the syringe under a large bandage covering that she'd been given.

"Okay, I found what I needed. Sorry for the delay."

"S' okay. Just been catching some sleep, trying to take some deep breaths." Ward said brushing it off.

"Well just close your eyes and focus on your breathing. I'll be taking care of your ribs in a minute." Skye instructed waiting for him to close his eyes before taking the syringe out. She began to run a hand over his arm only applying a little pressure as she tried to feel for a vein. She did it a couple times, feeling the vibration of his veins and their locations before quickly sticking him with the needle and pushing the morphine into his vein.

"What did you do? What did you just inject me with?!" Ward asked, eyes now open and panic in them.

"Hey, hey calm down. I just gave you morphine." She said calmly, putting a hand on his chest to keep him held down. "You need something to help with the pain and I knew you'd say no if I asked, so I didn't."

"There's a reason for that Skye." He said darkly.

"I'm sorry. It hurt seeing you try to cope with that much pain. You'll thank me later." She said trying to justify her actions.

Ward didn't say anything and instead looked away from her. Skye swallowed trying to fight back the overwhelming sense of rejection she felt. She put a Band-Aid over the spot the needle had been before and then covered up his burn. Skye grabbed a couple ice packs from the cabinet and made sure to pop the cold sac inside and shake the contents before placing it over Ward's ribs that had an ugly bruise begging to be noticed. By the time she had finished what little first-aid she could provide she took a chair and sat by Ward's face beginning to play with his hair again. She could tell that he was trying to fight off the effects of the morphine but failing. She'd made sure they gave him a little more than the average dose.

"Don't fight it Ward. Let it help you." She soothed.

"No." He bit out through ground teeth.

"Why? Why are you fighting it? It's not going to hurt you."

"Because, he'll get to me. He can hurt me when I'm weak and lucid." Ward said as he shook his head trying to fight the morphine that was already working on him.

"Who? Who's going to hurt you?" She asked, wondering if this was a memory she'd triggered.

"Garrett." He replied meeting her eyes. She saw the fear held there and it struck her heart.

"Garrett's dead Grant. He can't hurt you anymore."

"No. No. This is what he does." Grant tried to thrash and get up but the morphine had dulled his senses and left him numb. Skye got up and pushed his shoulders down to hold him still.

"Stop it! You're going to hurt yourself. Look at me Grant. Look at me!" He did as he was told and met Skye's imploring gaze. "He won't ever hurt you again, and I won't either. I promise. Trust me, please. Stop fighting the medicine." She pleaded caressing his face in her hands.

He held her gaze and stared up at her in wonder. The morphine had begun to put him in a daze.

"You're so beautiful." He murmured.

"I'm so sorry for doing this to you Grant. I didn't know you had been traumatized by needles."

"S'not your fault." He began to slur, his eyelids beginning to close on him.

"It looks like you're falling asleep. I have to go now Grant, I'll call you tonight."

"Don't go." He whimpered. "Errysing s' darker when you leaf." He slurred, eyes opening and closing, fighting to focus on her face.

Skye smiled down at him as he fought to keep his eyes open. She leaned down and kissed him gently, running a hand through his hair.

"I have to go now." She whispered, her face inches from his.

"Love you." He mumbled just before his eyes finally closed. A tear fell from her eye and dropped onto Ward's face but he was already too far gone to feel it.

"I think I might love you too." She confessed in a whisper, kissing him once more before leaving him.

XxxxXXxxxSkyeWardxxxXXxxxX

Skye never got the chance to call that night, or the next or the week after that. Coulson had sent her on a mission with May and the only time she had to herself was in the bathroom. She couldn't even sleep right anymore. So many nights she'd fallen asleep looking at Ward's picture, holding the phone close, and having a conversation with him. Now that was gone. She was sharing a room with May and it was killing her. She wanted this mission to be over. She wanted to go see Ward, to see how he was recovering. She wanted to hear his voice. She needed to hear him. Needed to hear that despite everything, he loved her. This is what led Skye to wait until three in the morning to get up and slip away from May to try and call Ward. She wandered around in the hotel for a half hour looking for a blind spot in the security cameras before she found one. As soon as she did she made sure no one was near her and quickly pressed dial.

It rang. Once, twice, five times. No answer. Desperate, Skye tried again. She pleaded for him to wake up and answer.

Three rings, four… "Hello?" A groggy voice asked.

Skye hadn't thought this far ahead. What was she supposed to say? All she thought about was hearing his voice. She hadn't figured out what to say. She guessed an explanation was a good way to start…and an apology.

"Hi. It's me. I'm so sorry for calling you so late. I'm in the middle of a mission with May and that's why I never called or came by again. I left the same day I saw you. And I'm so sorry Ward. I don't know how long I have on the phone either."

"Why did you call?" He asked with a yawn.

"I…needed to hear your voice." She said truthfully. "I've missed hearing you laugh and just…your voice."

"I've missed you too. But I'm falling back asleep, I'm sorry. I've got morphine in me."

"You're still taking it." She said surprised.

"I wanted to do it for you. I didn't know when you'd be coming by and I didn't want you to see me in pain."

Tears welled in Skye's eyes and a smile stretched her lips up. "You need it you idiot."

Ward chuckled and in that moment Skye thought it was the most beautiful sound she'd heard.

"You know…I'm beginning to think that you insulting me is just your way of showing affection."

"Shut up."

"Baby, I have to go. I can't keep my eyes open. Oh, and you still owe me a photo."

"I know. I've taken a couple. None are good enough."

"They're all perfect I'm sure. Goodnight Skye. I love you."

"Yeah. I know." She replied with a smile. "Goodnight Grant."

They hung up together and Skye made her way back to the room, now suddenly feeling exhausted after having talked to Ward. Talking with him and hearing his voice had finally set her at ease and now more than anything she just longed to be in his presence. She wanted this mission to be over. Little did she know it would be another week and a half before it was over.

XxxxXXxxxSkyeWardxxxXXxxxX

 _Come visit?_

The text was short and simple and it left an enormous grin on Skye's face. It was her first night back from her mission in Canada and Skye had been texting back and forth with Ward for the past hour as she unpacked and wrote up her mission report.

Skye debated going out and seeing him and bit her lip as she pondered the merits of doing so. She wracked her brain for any prior commitments and her movie night with FitzSimmons was brought to the forefront of her mind.

"Damn." She said disappointed.

 _ **Sorry. I would, but I just remembered I promised FitzSimmons earlier I'd watch a movie with them tonight. Apparently I've been acting strangely the past two months and been distant.**_

 _I wonder why._

Skye could see his smirk and hear the sarcasm dripping from his mouth. She wanted to wipe that smirk off his face but all she could do was narrow her eyes at the phone.

 _ **Oh shut up**_ _._

 _My lips are waiting for you to make me shut up._

 _ **I will punch you when I see you.**_

 _Ouch. Awfully violent for someone who can't stand to see me in pain._

 _ **Shut up.**_

 _There's that empty threat again._

 _ **I am literally going to punch you. Just wait idiot.**_

 _Again with the insults. ;)_

 _ **I'm not going to come see you if you keep this up.**_

 _I thought you already couldn't?_

 _ **I can't tonight…I didn't say I couldn't at two am.**_

 _You need sleep. Just ask Coulson for the weekend off and you can see me then._

 _ **That's like three days from now**_ _._

 _Your point being?_

 _ **That's a long time from now**_ _._

 _It's three days Skye…is this your way of saying you've missed me : )_

 _ **I…no.**_

 _I've missed you too._

 _ **: )**_

 _Haha okay. Well it's late, I'm going to go for my walk and to get something to eat._

 _ **Alright. I'll send you that picture finally.**_

 _Bout time._

 _ **Yeah, yeah. Sorry but I was busy, and I actually look decent today.**_

 _You always look beautiful._

 _ **You're biased.**_

 _What? How am I biased? That is a very real, true fact._

 _ **You have feelings for me. That makes you biased.**_

 _You're ridiculous. You're the most beautiful woman I've ever met Skye._

 _ **Go eat your dinner**_ _._

 _I'm walking now._

 _ **Well, I have to finish writing up this report. I've written two sentences in the past hour.**_

 _Haha. Sorry for the distraction. I'll see you in three days._

 _ **Yup. Bye.**_

 _Bye._

Skye smiled and shook her head opening up the camera and taking a few pictures before sending the best one to Ward. Three days…she could last that long. After all, she'd gone months without seeing him before. But that was before everything changed. Before her feelings had begun to change again. She couldn't deny any longer that she really liked Ward and the more she thought about it and thought about him the more she wondered if she was falling in love with him again.

XxxxXXxxxSkyeWardxxxXXxxxX

The weekend had finally arrived. Coulson had cleared her for two days off and she was intent on spending them with Ward. Everyone thought she was just going to go spend her time at the beach alone but really Ward would be there with her. She told them she'd have her phone on her in case anything came up but she just needed some 'me time' after such a stressful mission.

Ward said he'd pick her up in his car shortly after she left the base and was a safe distance away. That's what led her to sitting inside McDonald's nibbling on a small fry with her suitcase beside her, ready for the weekend. She had been there for about ten minutes and was waiting on a text or call from Ward.

Instead of a text or call she got a tap on the shoulder. When she turned she saw Ward standing there behind her, a smile on his face. His hair looked perfect as always, and he had on his standard Henley and jeans. Overcome with joy, Skye shot up from her chair, a smile engulfing her face. She threw her arms around him and hugged him happily. He groaned in pain but slowly wrapped his arms around her as well, happy to see her.

"I knew you missed me." He murmured kissing the top of her head.

"Maybe just a little." She confessed with a sigh, her head buried in his embrace, resting on his chest.

"You want to eat lunch here or somewhere closer to the beach?"

"Which would you want to do?"

"Judging by the fact you have fries on the table I take it you're hungry now. We'll just eat here. I haven't had a burger in weeks and where better to get a double quarter pounder?"

"Double quarter pounder?" She asked with a grin pulling her head back to look at him without letting go.

"Don't judge me." He said with a raised eyebrow stepping back from her embrace.

"What happened to the whole 'my body is a machine'?" Skye teased.

"I have cheat days." He defended.

Skye let her arms fall and snuck a second look at him as he walked up to order. He was still walking cautiously, favoring the side of his body that had the broken rib. He seemed to be healing pretty nicely but she also hadn't seen him without his shirt off yet. He had mentioned going into surgery for a skin graft and she was still curious to see the new skin. He had mentioned how strange it looked compared with the rest of his torso and promised to let her see it sometime. Skye walked up behind Ward as he was finishing placing his order and chimed in.

"Make that two number four meals please." Just to make sure Ward didn't have time to protest she leaned up on her toes and kissed his cheek as she slipped her hand into his.

Ward just shook his head amused but held out the cash needed to pay for the meals.

"And here you were making fun of me for wanting a number four, yet she asks for the same thing." He mused first talking to Skye and then the cashier as she handed him back a receipt with his order number and change. Skye walked with him off to the side to wait for the order and slipped her other hand in his. She stepped closer and leaned up on her tiptoes to kiss him. She saw him smiling, as her lips got closer and leaned down to close the remaining space. It was just a small peck but it lasted long enough to get her heart racing.

He kept his lips just inches from hers and watched as her eyes fluttered open. "You are beautiful."

Skye blushed and tried to push off the compliment but found herself just stumbling on words. Ward silenced her with another kiss and she was grateful for his distraction. This time it was a little longer but it was so soft and tender and Skye could feel him pouring his affection into the kiss. When his hand came up and caressed her cheek is when her stomach really started to do flips and her heart stopped.

"Order 162."

Ward slowly pulled back and lingered a moment looking at the beautiful woman whose face he was holding and smiled. "That's our number Skye." He whispered waiting for her to open her eyes again. When she finally did it felt like he was looking in a mirror. That's how he knew. She may not be able to admit it aloud or to herself but she was just as crazy about him as he was about her.

It took Skye a moment to come back to reality but when she finally did her eyes widened in recognition and she shook her head vigorously, taking a step back. Ward smiled and walked around her grabbing the tray that was waiting for them and brought it over to the table Skye had previously been sitting at. She followed him unable to speak and sat down at the table taking one of the two bags on the tray.

"Want do you want to drink?" Ward asked picking up the two cups put on the tray?

"Huh? Oh, uh Coke is fine." She answered having been zoned out in her own little world.

She began absent-mindedly eating, lost in thought about what had just happened. He hadn't kissed her with passion or lust. He just poured the love he felt for her into that mind-blowing kiss and it had sparked something in her. It had re-awakened a feeling she thought she'd completely lost and it was throwing her for a loop. In the back of her head a little voice kept nagging her, repeating one phrase.

 _You love him. You love him you idiot. You love him._

Skye swallowed down a bite of the burger a little harsher than before and just stared at Ward as he came back with their drinks.

"You okay?" He asked with a concerned look as he sat down and took out his own food.

"Huh?" She asked not having heard what he asked.

"Are you okay Skye?"

"Oh uh yeah, I'm fine. Just…thinking." She answered taking another bite.

"About me?" He asked teasingly. Skye's face blanched and he knew he'd guessed correctly.

"No. Just…stuff." She replied in between bites.

"Right." He said with a knowing smile.

They ate their meal in silence much to Skye's delight. Ward didn't mind giving her the time to her herself and her thoughts. He was starving and had the opportunity to just eat.

The car ride to the beach condo rental wasn't much different. Skye just stared out the window until a certain song came on and instead of staring out the window she stared at the radio and at him as he sang along. He was aware of her bewildered look and he understood why it was there but sang along anyways.

"Girl, you're the one I want to want me. And if you want me, girl, you got me. There's nothin' I, no, I wouldn't do, I wouldn't do, Just to get up next to you." He sang softly with Jason Derulo.

"You're doing this on purpose, aren't you?" Skye spoke up, almost sounding angry.

Ward turned down the radio confused, and turned his head over to look at her for a quick second. "What?"

"The kiss, the song. You're doing this on purpose."

"I don't know what you're talking about Skye." He replied actually a little confused as to what she was trying to get at.

"You know exactly what I'm talking about." She accused squinting her eyes.

"I can't control the radio! And I kissed you because I love you and you said yourself you like kissing me!" Ward defended.

Skye scoffed loudly and crossed her arms not buying his answer. "You're setting this up because you know what I'm thinking and what I'm struggling with."

"Skye…I'm sorry. Geez. If I had known you would react this badly to me kissing you like that I wouldn't have okay."

"No! Don't you dare say that." She threatened, her eyes now filled with anger and frustration.

"What do you want from me?! You know exactly how I feel about you Skye. You're the one still trying to figure out what you're feeling. I didn't rig the radio to play a song that relates to me, okay? I don't know why you're so upset right now." Ward said holding up his hands in defeat. "I don't Skye." He looked over to her meeting her eyes.

"You're such an idiot." She huffed looking away.

"What is that supposed to mean?" He asked now getting angry himself.

"You heard me! You're a stupid, clueless, idiot!"

"Just tell me what you want from me!" He yelled in frustration.

"I WANT YOU! I love you, you idiot!" She yelled right back at him. Ward looked over in shock at her confession and watched as realization dawned in her eyes.

They both grew quiet and Skye looked back out the window. Minutes passed by in silence as Skye waited for Ward to reply. Not knowing what words to say, Ward finally decided to let his actions speak and reached over for her hand. Skye seemed confused at first but gave him her hand anyway. He linked their fingers together and brought her hand up to his lips.

They sat in a content silence for the remainder hour drive, both thinking about what they wanted to say next when they actually spoke.

"We're here." Ward said quietly as he pulled up to the rental condo. "Key is gonna be hidden in the plant on the porch."

"Well… let's go see the inside." Skye suggested letting go of his hand and getting out of the car.

"I'll get the bags."

"Like hell you will. I will shoot you myself if you think about straining yourself." Skye threatened, appalled with his suggestion. "I will get your bag and my suitcase and you will focus on getting up those stairs in one piece." She demanded.

"Yes ma'am." He replied, a small smile playing on his lips.

"The audacity." She scoffed going into the trunk and taking out the bags. By the time Ward got up the numerous stairs Skye had managed to beat him up there and get the door open.

"That was exhausting." He panted, gingerly holding his side.

"And you wanted to try and add weight. Yeah, you are an idiot."

Ward just rolled his eyes. "It's called being a gentleman."

"A word that doesn't seem to quite fit your personality." She teased.

"Oh, I can be quite romantic and gentlemanly." He said closing in on her.

"Mmm, then I look forward to seeing that these next two days." She replied ducking out of his way and walking into the condo, a teasing smile on her lips. "Go sit down on the couch and rest. I'll go find the bedroom and put our bags there."

"Bedroom?" Ward questioned noticing the singular form of her word.

"Well you didn't think these things came with two rooms, did you?" Was the only answer she gave before walking away.

Ward just shook his head and walked over to the couch, taking his shirt off carefully before laying down.

"Skye?" He called out.

"Yeah?" Came her distant answer.

"Would you mind getting me some ice for my rib please?"

"Sure! One second." She called out.

He'd exhausted himself much more today than in previous days. Mainly it was because he was on bed rest from Kebo and the doctor that had come in. Skye walked over to him with a small bag of ice cubes a couple minutes later and paused in front of him. He noticed her looking at the skin graft scar.

"Freaky looking, huh?" He spoke, shaking her from her thoughts.

"Sorry, I didn't mean to stare."

"No, it's alright. I still find myself staring at it in the mirror after I shower. Just got the bandage removed yesterday."

"Does it hurt?"

"Only if I stretch a little too intensely. I can't go out to the beach without a shirt on. Have to protect the skin from the sun."

"Darn. So much for being able to stare at your abs." She joked with a half smile.

"Ice?" He asked still waiting for Skye to hand him the bag of ice.

"Oh, right. Sorry." She handed it over to him and watched as he grimaced putting it on.

"We should talk."

"We should?" Skye asked with a wince, not really wanting to again.

"Yeah. You said you loved me. Did you mean it?"

She sat down on the coffee table in front of the couch and looked down at him, twiddling her thumbs. He looked up waiting for an answer.

"Yes."

Ward smiled softly at her. "Good. Because I really love you."

"I know." She said, a whisper of a laugh passing through her lips.

"Where does this leave us?"

"Where do you want it to leave us?" She retorted.

"Dating." He replied honestly.

"I…I think I'd like that." She met his eyes and leaned over to kiss him. Ward held the ice with one hand and cupped her face with the other, kissing her with a little more fervor than before. If she wasn't worried about hurting him, Skye would have straddled his lap and just kissed him that way, but she knew that wouldn't be happening for a long while. Right now she was content with kissing him this way. And this time…there was no time constraint on them.

XxxxXXxxxSkyeWardxxxXXxxxX

The weekend passed by in a blur and the next thing Skye knew, Ward was dropping her off a half mile from the base.

"So I'll talk to you soon then?" Skye asked winding her arms around his neck.

"Hopefully. I'm leaving for Nemesis tomorrow afternoon though. I've already been in one place too long. That's how an attack happens. Hydra still isn't one hundred percent and taking me out of the equation would shatter everything I've made." Ward said wrapping his own arms around her waist, effectively pressing her against him.

"Right. Sometimes I forget you're the one in charge of everything." Skye sighed.

"Hey, I'll be fine. It's not a mission. Just transferring to the next base to spend some time with those recruits, see how everything is going. I won't be going back in the field for a couple months. I promise."

"You better not." She replied leaning up and pressing a quick kiss to his lips.

"I have someone waiting for me to return safely. That's motivation enough to stay out of trouble." Ward smiled returning the kiss.

"Hey…I love you, Grant." Skye said softly. It was only her third time saying those words and it still sounded strange and felt weird.

"I love you too Skye." He smiled at her brightly and cupped her face in his hands kissing her similarly as he had done in McDonald's. "Time for you to go home. I'm sure your friends have missed you." He encouraged not really wanting to let her go.

"Let's do this again sometime."

"You mean spend a weekend together where I'm forced to try and sleep in the same bed as a snoring monster?" He asked with a teasing grin.

"You're so lucky you're injured or I'd slug your shoulder right now."

"Yeah yeah." Ward grinned and gave her a final kiss.

"See you around." She said with a smile.

"You know it."

Skye took a hold of her suitcase and began the walk back to the base, waving goodbye to Ward as he got back in the car.

Skye managed to get back into the base without anyone asking how her weekend had been and began to find it strange when not a single one of her friends was there. It was still early on in the evening. When she got back to her room however, she figured out why she hadn't seen two of them.

Fitz and Simmons were waiting for her in her room, arms crossed with a mixture of hurt and confusion on their faces.

"Hey guys." She said forcing a smile.

"How was your weekend alone Skye?" Jemma asked with what was clearly a fake smile.

"It was good. Refreshing." She answered setting her suitcase down on the part of the bed they weren't occupying.

"You can stop lying to us now Skye. We saw you with… _him_." Fitz said with clear disdain.

"What?" Skye asked, more in shock over why they had followed her.

"We saw you with Ward! We thought it'd be nice to surprise you and have a little fun, just us friends. You know, how it used to be. But when we got there we saw you and him…kissing, on the beach." Jemma was in tears as she recounted the scene.

Skye paled and swallowed. She hadn't been expecting anyone to find out about her and Ward…ever. Least of all Fitz and Jemma.

"What the bloody hell is going on with you two Skye?" Fitz asked.

"It's…we're…dating." Skye answered, wincing at the look both Fitz and Jemma gave her.

"He's…he's a monster! How could possibly stand to look at him?" Jemma cried.

"Let alone kiss and date him." Fitz added.

"How long has this been going on behind our backs?"

"We've only been dating since yesterday. But I've been talking to him for the past two months and visiting him off and on." Skye answered, now tearing up herself.

"How long were you planning on keeping this a secret?" Fitz asked, his voice cracking.

"You've been betraying us for two months?!" The look Jemma gave Skye was one of disgust.

"I'm not betraying anyone! It's not like I've told him any of Shield's big secrets!"

"But you have told him things that go on here?" Jemma clarified.

"Only if it put his life in danger. I would never betray you guys, honest." Skye said pleading with them. "I never wanted to hurt you guys, I swear. But I love Ward. I know that sounds unfathomable to you and for a while it did to me as well. But it's true and I finally figured that out this weekend." Skye was in tears now, feeling the strain that was being put on her relationship with her friends.

"No." Jemma sobbed. "You're wrong."

"Love him?" Fitz asked, tears now beginning to drop from his eyes. "He tried to kill us Skye. He betrayed us all."

"I know Fitz. I know. And I know he regrets that so much. He misses you guys. He does. He dreams about how things could have been different without Garrett. How he could have been happy with all of us." Skye said repeating the words Ward had said to her just earlier that day.

"But we can't go back. He hurt us Skye, and now you have too." Fitz spoke through his tears and cracking voice.

"Please end it with him Skye. Don't talk to him again." Jemma begged.

"I can't do that Jemma. I'm sorry." Skye croaked.

"You're still going to go sneak off and see him? Still going to kiss him and pretend like he didn't betray us all?" The hurt scientist asked incredulous.

Skye kept quiet and looked down at the ground.

"Then we're done." Jemma announced coldly. "Let's go Fitz."

"Please, don't do this Jemma. I love you guys. We're friends." Skye said trying to desperately grab onto the friends that were leaving her.

"We're not friends so long as he's in the picture."

"I love him." Was all Skye could say.

"Then there's your answer. Oh and we won't say anything to Coulson, but don't expect anything more from us. As far as I'm concerned…we have nothing more in common." Jemma's words were pure ice that froze Skye's heart. She watched in anguish as her friends walked out of her room and consequently…her life. Skye fell on her bed sobbing, curled up in the fetal position as she held a pillow. She stayed in her room crying for the rest of the night, not allowing anyone else in her room. That night she fell asleep in a pool of tears, and a large hole in her heart.

XxxxXXxxxSkyeWardxxxXXxxxX

It was a rough week for Skye. Ward had been out of contact and FitzSimmons no longer even acknowledged her. Each night she fell asleep crying and she found that if she tried to look at one of the photos of Ward and herself from the weekend, she only cried harder. She wished she could be stuck in those two days. That she could go back and just be blissfully happy. But instead she was here forced to occupy the same space as two people who couldn't stand to even look at her anymore. So she did the only thing she could possibly do and she'd thrown herself into her work and training. It was the only way to avoid thinking, at least for a little while.

A week turned into two and still there was no text or call from Ward. She was trying to keep herself from panicking but with each passing hour of silence her will to just ignore his sudden radio silence diminished.

Three weeks had passed. There was still no contact from Ward and Skye was officially panicking. She couldn't ask anyone for help tracking him so it was a task she assigned herself on. Without FitzSimmons Skye found she had a lot more free time and so she spent it breaking the encryption Ward had one of his tech guys put on the phone. Lucky for her she was the best hacker around and after an hour or so of messing around and getting through firewalls she had a location of where he was, or at least his phone. Skye let Coulson know she had to go meet up with an old contact of hers who had valuable information about Ward's whereabouts and in just an hour she was cleared for her mission and was on a Quinn jet to Canada. Her nerves were trying to get the better of her and all she could think was,

 _What if he's been kidnapped? What if he's dead?_

She was sure that he had made his share of enemies since he took over the job of head of Hydra. Skye forced those thoughts to the back of her mind and focused on getting to Vancouver safely. It was going to be a long two days.

XxxxXXxxxSkyeWardxxxXXxxxX

Skye crept closer to the blinking red dot on her tablet, heart racing. She was silently creeping along a corridor of what appeared to be a condemned hospital. There were no lights on, no sounds being made, and for not the first time Skye wondered what Ward was doing here. She came to a windowless door and the red light began blinking rapidly. Skye tucked away the tablet and got out her icer making sure it was ready to go. She didn't know if Ward was even on the other side of the door. Only one thing was certain, his phone was there. Bracing herself mentally for what she could find, Skye took a deep breath and gently tried the door handle. Unlocked. She threw the door open and went in gun raised.

There was a single figure in the room, hunched over in the corner.

"Grant." She breathed out.

"No. Stay away Skye. You shouldn't have come." He said gravely, not looking at her.

"You haven't called in three weeks. I got worried. What is going on?" She asked tucking the gun away and walking over to him.

"No! Get back! I don't want to hurt you. I can't control it." He said looking up at her, eyes wild with concern. Skye took a step back gasping. His Iris' were redish-orange.

"Grant! What happened?" She asked suspecting but not believing.

"Please, just go. I don't want to hurt you Skye." He pleaded, hugging himself.

"You…you're…inhuman. But…how?" She asked looking at him confused.

He huffed and shook his head. "Ask your ATCU buddies."

"They did this to you?" Skye asked in shock and a tinge of anger.

"Yeah." He glared, his eyes flaring up a second.

"Grant, I'm gonna sit down next to you. Don't panic."

"No. Skye. Please, I can hurt you. I don't want to hurt you."

"You won't be able to…I promise. Just trust me Grant. This is my area of expertise." She smiled warmly at him, trying to calm him down. She could feel how fast his heart was beating and if it beat any faster he'd become unstable and lose control. "Close your eyes." Ward listened to her and closed his eyes. "Good. Now just focus on my voice. We're going to calm your heart rate." He nodded and tried to breathe in and out. She made her way over to him speaking softly and crouched in front of him. "Now, open your eyes."

She watched him open his eyes and as soon as they locked eyes she watched as the fire began to die. What replaced the scary color of his Iris' was amazement and wonder. She smiled proudly. She knew she could disarm him and calm his heart rate and the longer he looked into her eyes the more she felt his heart slow.

"You did it." She said gently, reaching out and touching his face. "I've missed you Grant Ward. Why didn't you call me sooner? I'm the one person who could have helped you."

"I was afraid of killing you." He said softly, leaning into her hand.

"You can't kill me Grant. It's an inhuman thing. You're physically incapable of killing your other half. I wouldn't be able to kill you. My body won't let me just like yours won't let you." Skye soothed, running her hand through his hair.

"I turn into fire. My hands…they shoot beams of fire and my eyes…they become flames as well. I can stare at something and then it sets itself on fire. But…I can't control it. I've been trying for two weeks."

"I knew I should have tracked you earlier. God, you're such an idiot."

She chuckled. "I'm just glad you're okay. Did your skin and rib heal during the transformation?"

"Yeah." He said with a nod.

"Good. Now I can punch you." She said shortly before lightly punching his shoulder.

"You know, most people would have run away when they realized their boyfriend is fire."

"Taylor Swift said it best." Skye said with a shrug. Ward looked at her confused and she grinned. "So it's gonna be forever or it's gonna go down in flames."

Ward shook his head and chuckled. "Leave it to you to make a joke out of this situation."

"It's why you love me." She said with a smile leaning in and kissing him. Skye re-adjusted herself so she was sitting on Ward's lap, cupping his face in both hands. She hadn't realized just how much she had been craving him the past three weeks until she was kissing him, and suddenly she couldn't get enough. Much to her delight Ward seemed to have had the same thought and his arms wrapped around her holding her close. Skye lost track of how much time they had spent just making out in the corner but she just thought of it as making up for lost time.

"Mm, I've missed you so much baby." Ward said kissing the tip of her nose. Skye smiled and placed a quick kiss on his lips in reply.

"Let's get you out of here. I'm going to take you to the same place Coulson took me when I was unstable. But this time…I'm going to teach you how to control your powers."

"Are you sure you can do this?"

"I already lost FitzSimmons, I'm not losing you too." Skye said trying to swallow back the pain.

"What?" He asked looking at her concerned.

"They…they saw me kissing you on the beach and they told me to choose. Them or you." She said brushing away the couple fallen tears.

"Skye…"

"No. Don't say anything." She interrupted. "Because I'm only going to punch you if you try and tell me I made the wrong choice."

Ward swallowed and nodded, feeling guilty that'd he cost her two friends. "I'm sorry. I know it can't be easy losing your best friends."

"It…it sucks. But it gets easier to forget when you do nothing but work."

"I'm sorry I wasn't there for you. I should have been."

"I didn't want you feeling bad and telling me to break things off with you." She admitted playing with his hands.

"Still…I'm sorry you lost your friends." Skye nodded and laced her fingers with his.

"Come on, we'll take the Quinn jet. It's a couple miles away. Do you think you're good to walk that far?"

"Yeah. I'll be fine. I think you effectively squelched the fire wanting to come out."

"I told you." She said proudly as she pushed herself off the ground and pulled Ward up with her.

They made their way out of the hospital and began the long trek back to the parking garage Skye had parked on. They were silently walking hand in hand enjoying the city around them when Ward spoke up.

"Hey Skye?"

"Hey Grant?"

"I love you." He paused to look into her eyes as he said it.

"I love you too." She replied, a wide smile on her face. "And I may have been upset originally at the discovery, but now I openly embrace it."

Ward smiled at that and leaned in to kiss her. This time they shared a kiss that was equal parts passionate as it was loving and gentle.

"I'm never going to get tired of that look in your eye after I kiss you like that." Ward said softly, just getting lost at the breathless look in her eyes.

"I'm never going to get tired of the way you kiss me like that." She said breathlessly.

"There's plenty more to come over time." He promised.

Skye smiled and began to walk again, pulling him along. "Come on, hurry up Grant."

"Why are we in a hurry?" He asked having to speed walk to keep up with her.

"Because…the cabin is isolated and it has a very comfortable bed." She said with a mischievous look in her eye. Ward's heart almost stopped at her implication but he couldn't deny he wanted it, wanted her. She laughed at the look on his face and pulled him along a little faster.

XxxxXXxxxSkyeWardxxxXXxxxX

The trip to the cabin was pretty un-eventful in and of itself. Ward had her shoot him with the Icer just to ensure her safety. She tried telling him multiple times she'd be fine but he didn't want something unexpected happening that would cause him to go off and bring the jet down. He'd made the joke that it shouldn't be difficult to shoot him with the Icer since she'd done it with a real gun before. That hadn't gone over so well and instead Skye slapped him in the face before proceeding to shoot him with the icer. It was a quiet three-hour flight and before getting to the cabin Skye stopped off to pick up dinner and a couple groceries before finishing the flight. They got in close to midnight leaving Skye to have to drag Ward's unconscious form into the cabin. She was making dinner when he walked in looking a little dazed.

"So this is Coulson's secret cabin huh? I gotta say, I wasn't expecting it to feel so…homey." Skye stayed silent. "You're still upset with me, aren't you?" He asked. His question was met with a silent answer. Ward gave a sigh and walked up beside her, leaning on the counter. "I'm sorry Skye, I didn't mean to hurt you. I thought you'd be amused by it."

This time she did answer. "Amused by the memory of leaving you to bleed out and die after having shot you four times when you were unarmed? Oh yeah, it's hilarious." She said glaring at him.

Ward opened his mouth to answer but thought better of it and stayed silent for a moment. "I'm sorry Skye." He said softly, laying a hand on her arm.

"You're such an idiot." She mumbled.

"Is that your way of saying you forgive me?" He implored with puppy dog eyes.

"No. You're only at the starting line bub." She said glancing over at him.

"Right." He said with a sigh.

"How do you feel?" She asked seemingly detached.

"Well right now really guilty."

"That's not what I meant Ward." She said coldly with a roll of her eyes. He winced at the name.

"Oh, that's not good. You're back to calling me Ward again."

"Stop babbling and answer my question." She demanded.

"I don't feel like I'm being burned alive anymore if that's what you mean. It's a dull pain radiating throughout my body, but it's not consuming. Also I feel very hungry and sluggish."

"I had a feeling. I was the same way. Tomorrow I'll assess you and push you to the breaking point so I can see your limits. Then you'll have the next day to recover some and after that we'll start your training."

"Gotcha. Are there any side effects I should know about to this whole inhuman thing?" He inquired.

"No, but everyone is different. Your gifts may take up more of your energy or it could give you more energy. It could leave you famished after using them or it could make you start to bleed."

"How…pleasant." Ward said with a grimace.

"We'll deal with it as it comes. Tonight we rest up." She stated. She was still acting emotionally distant from him and it was actually starting to hurt him.

Ward nodded and walked away from her, going to sit on the couch. It was going to be one interesting experience when Skye was this upset with him.

XxxxXXxxxSkyeWardxxxXXxxxX

"Um...well…that was…interesting." Skye said trying to string some words together in a sentence as feedback for Ward. She'd just finished extinguishing the trees he'd set fire to with his hands not a minute ago. "Next time try concentrating on what you want to hit."

"Sorry." He said panting. The amber brown orbs she loved to look into had been replaced by orange and red swirling flames, dancing in his eyes, looking for a way to jump out and set something on fire. There was still flames licking his palms, not quite embers, but not quite full flames either.

"No, it's fine. That's what today is for; you letting loose, and me assessing you and giving tips that aren't quite training. I want you to focus on hitting this water bottle with your heat vision." Skye instructed walking over to a stump fifty feet away and setting the bottle on it.

"That far away? I don't think this is gonna turn out the way you want to." Ward said nervously.

"You think I was this controlled when I first got my powers? I destroyed San Juan. Now, trust me and just focus Ward."

Ward let out a quick breath and looked toward the water bottle. He willed the flames in his eyes to hit the bottle. The feeling was so painful that he stumbled back and looked away trying to stop the flames that were now burning his brain. He held his head and squeezed his eyes shut trying to stop the awful nerve frying pain. Ward dropped to the ground on his knees and touched his head to the ground, groaning in pain. In the next moment he felt Skye's soothing touch and the flames burning him began to retreat and extinguish.

"Take a deep breath Grant, come on. Don't pent it up. It'll just hurt you." She was rubbing his back and her voice actually sounded very worried, especially at the end of her sentence. He waited until the flames were extinguished before looking up at her and acknowledging that she'd called him Grant.

"Thanks." He said breathless.

"Sorry I couldn't help sooner. You kinda set a lot of the grass on fire. Had to put that out first so it didn't catch."

He nodded and waved her off, trying to tell her it was fine. "You…you called me…by my first name." He managed to say in between breaths.

"I meant what I said, don't try and internalize it. I tried doing that so I wouldn't hurt someone around me and instead I fractured nearly every bone in my body." Skye warned, her hand still on his back.

"Got it. Better out than in."

"How are you feeling? Want to try again?"

"It hurts doing that."

"You have a new muscle and you're stretching it. Of course you're going to be in pain." Skye soothed, trying to encourage him.

"Yeah, well…this pain burns me alive." He said disappointed that he hadn't been able to control any of his actions.

"It'll get better. You just have to keep practicing and working through it."

"Did I at least hit the bottle?" He asked looking up, trying to see if the water bottle had been reduced to melting plastic.

"Well…you got everything around it." Skye offered with a small smile.

"Ugh. I'm the worst at this."

"Hey, don't say that. What is it you told me before? That you didn't wake up one day with the skills you had but that you trained yourself and you worked hard for years to master it. The same applies here too. Stop beating yourself up Grant."

He gave half a laugh and pushed himself back to his feet. "Let's go again."

"If you start feeling faint, let me know and we'll stop."

"No, I'm good now." He assured nodding.

"Okay." She said offering him a smile and kissing his cheek. "You're doing a good job… all things considered."

Ward smiled and grabbed her hand as she tried to walk away. He pulled her back into his embrace and made sure to give her a proper kiss, unlike the one she'd given him a moment ago.

She returned the kiss for just a moment before breaking it. "Assessment first."

"And then?" He asked with an eyebrow raised in hope.

"And then we'll see what you've earned." She replied stepping out of his embrace and getting behind him and out of the danger zone.

Ward smiled and reached inside trying to bring the flames out again. He thought of Garrett and the flames erupted from his hands and eyes as he aimed for the water bottle. He grimaced through the pain but still maintained his level of concentration. A moment later he stopped, panting again and feeling much more drained. Sure enough though both the stump and water bottle had been burned down to ashes with only some of the surrounding grass scorched.

"Not bad…Rookie." Skye teased with a playful grin. Ward grinned as he tried to catch his breath. "I want you to just let it loose now. All the energy inside of you, let it all out. And focus on one target." Skye instructed.

Ward nodded and once he caught his breath he channeled all the energy burning inside and let it loose with a yell. Rather than sound coming out of his mouth though, fire erupted and he was so startled that he lost focus and began to set the trees back on fire. He was out of control and unable to stop the flames spewing from his body. All sounds were lost on him outside of his own internal screaming as panic began to flood his body. There was only one thing that managed to break him from his trance.

"GRANT! CALM DOWN!" Skye screamed over the sound of his own panic.

Her voice managed to bring the flames down a notch and once she touched him it was like an instant off switch for his body. It was almost as if it recognized that Skye was the one he was in love with and could not hurt. His body knew the difference between her touch and someone else's and it immediately shut down in an effort to protect her. He fell to the ground, head spinning, feeling nauseous and faint. He was weakly gasping for air, the sky spinning around him. He lost track of how much time he was on the ground before Skye was over him, looking at him with so much worry and concern.

"Let's get you inside, we're done for today."

"Can't…move." He said, eyes unable to focus.

Skye helped him get to his feet but his knees gave out and were it not for Skye holding him he would have crumpled to the ground again. She wrapped his arms around her neck and with him laying against her back she began to walk back to the cabin that was nearly a quarter mile from where she'd taken him. Skye had to stop for breaks every so often but by the time she made it back inside the cabin and to the bedroom he'd passed out.

She noted how his clothes seemed to have been protected and wondered if he was protected from his own flames the way Scorch had been too. Skye got him situated on the bed before crashing beside him. She could use a short nap before making lunch. Chances were he was going to have a large appetite after spending so much energy.

 _Just a quick nap._

She reasoned with herself, curling up next to him. She watched how panicked his actions had become after he saw himself breathing out fire. He'd been so scared and she almost felt bad for asking him to push himself. Skye yawned and closed her eyes drifting off in the next minute.

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Skye woke to an empty bed and the sound of sizzling food in a frying pan. She stretched out her arms and legs with a yawn as she began to wake herself up. She wondered how long of a nap she'd taken and looked over at the clock beside the bed. Her eyes widened in surprise as she realized she'd been asleep almost three hours.

"Grant?!" She called out, still laying in the bed.

He came walking into the room not thirty seconds later looking like he knew he'd done something wrong. "Yes?"

"Why the hell did you let me sleep for three hours? You should have woken me up. I was supposed to be the one making dinner, not the other way around. You shouldn't be expending more energy than you already have."

"I'm sorry, are you getting on my case for _not_ waking you up?" He asked incredulously. "Because I seem to recall a certain rookie threatening to castrate me every morning because I woke her up and didn't let her sleep." He said leaning against the doorframe and crossing his arms.

In this lighting Skye couldn't help but admire just how tight his T-shirt was on his arms and the shadow across his jaw. His cheekbones were prominent even in the dim light and Skye felt a rush of desire course through her veins. She closed her eyes and tightened her jaw trying to gain control of her emotions.

 _Not yet._

She reminded herself. He hadn't eaten and he really needed protein and strength.

"Hey, are you okay Skye?" He asked walking closer to her. She kept her eyes squeezed shut and nodded hoping that would be a satisfactory answer. Apparently not. He placed a hand on her arm and upon doing so her eyes shot open and he swore for a moment that this time it was her eyes that were on fire.

"Please go." She said shaking off his arm and scooting further to the other side of the bed.

"What's going on Skye?" He asked getting a little worried.

"You're freaking hot and I want you! Now please, go." She exclaimed.

Ward was a little shocked at first and straightened up, but rather than leave he stood there looking like he was deep in thought. Finally after a minute he wordlessly left and Skye took in a breath of relief.

"You and your stupid attractiveness." She muttered to herself, a hand on her forehead. Skye lay there for a moment gathering herself before finally getting up. She was just about to walk out of the room when Ward reappeared and blocked her path.

"Going somewhere?" He asked looking down at her with a look she couldn't quite decipher.

"Yes, the kitchen." She said trying to move past him. Again Ward moved and blocked her path. "What are you doing?" She asked annoyed.

"I want you too." He said. There was a brief pause so Skye could take it in and once recognition hit her eyes he moved in and kissed her.

All arguments she had about him conserving and rebuilding his energy seemed to dissipate the moment his lips touched hers. The only thing that remained was her desire to be with him in the most intimate way. She jumped up and wrapped her legs around his waist, Ward catching her weight easily enough. He closed the door with one arm and walked with her, falling onto the bed with her in his arms.

"I love you Skye." He said with a smile.

"I love you too." She whispered, her ability to speak properly having gone out the window.

"You sure you want this?" He asked, trailing a finger over the contours of her face.

She nodded and said confidently, "Yes."

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They were eating dinner on the couch together; Skye curled up leaning against him, with nothing but comfortable silence between them. Every minute or so she'd look over and see him smiling at her and she'd blush and smile back knowing their time in the bedroom was on repeat in his brain. It was the same for her too.

"Do you think something weird is going to happen to us?" Ward asked out of the blue. His eyebrows were furrowed and he looked genuinely perplexed.

"What do you mean?" She asked curiously, taking a bite of the stir-fry he'd so generously cooked up.

"I mean we're both…inhuman. Can two inhumans have sex with each other and still be okay or does something physical happen to the two of us?"

Skye chuckled and kissed his cheek. He looked absolutely adorable when he was concerned. "Yes. We'll be fine. There is one thing that happened to us as we were…doing the horizontal tango."

Ward grinned at her choice of words and decided to keep his mouth shut about it. "What?"

"There's a story my mom told me, about inhumans and the people they fall in love with." She started, setting down her bowl of food. "She said that when inhumans fall in love it's not some temporary thing like with humans. Once you fall in-love with someone that's it. There is no getting over them. And when you sleep together this physical slash non-physical bond gets created. If an inhuman falls in love with a human the bond only goes one way, but if we fall in love with another inhuman and have sex...it's the strongest bond in the world and nothing can break it. You can feel when the other one is injured or upset, your bodies begin to have a sixth sense. You can feel the other person's presence even if you can't see them. In the beginning while the bond is forming you can go longer periods of time without physical contact but as the relationship progresses… the shorter period of time you can stand being away from your soul mate. If you're apart from one another for more than three days your body starts to ache and it isn't until you're in that person's presence again that you feel better. It's one thing that's unique to our kind."

"So you and I, we have that same bond forming right now?" He asked.

"Yup." Skye answered, reaching for his beer and taking a swig.

"You know…earlier today when I was in my state of panic and I couldn't hear or see anything around me, when you touched me, my body stopped. It was like it recognized your touch and it knew. You said we can't hurt the person we love and my body knew as soon as you placed your hand on me." He recounted with a smile on his face, his hand reaching for hers and intertwining their fingers. "You seem to be indifferent about this bond, but…I like it. It means no matter what I'll always be able to know if you're safe or in trouble and I won't have to go long periods of time without seeing you."

"There is one other thing Grant…" Skye said softly, looking down at their hands, tracing her other fingers across his hand. "If one of us dies…the other person becomes a shell of themselves. You'll never be the same person ever again. You'll be forced to live with the grief and pain and your body will constantly ache for the other person. You'll never be at peace again."

"Hey…that's not gonna happen Skye. We're going to be fine. Nothing is going to happen to either one of us. Besides…if that's the price for having the strongest love known to man, I'll take it. You're worth it all Skye." He said softly, taking her face in his hands and smiling at her with every ounce of love and adoration he had for her shining bright in his eyes.

"I never thought I'd experience what my mom told me. I guess I'm just a little scared now that you're inhuman too."

"Do I need to take you back into the bedroom and show you that you don't have to be afraid?" He asked leaning in and kissing her.

"Maybe." Skye replied with a smile in between his kisses.

"Then let's go." Ward stood up taking her hand in his and led her back into the bedroom, their food now forgotten.

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"Focus Grant. Close your eyes and just breathe. Think of where you want the fire to be and what you want it to do then, aim and…fire." Skye instructed, a smile on her face at her clever pun.

To his credit he had really been trying and listening to her instructions but he'd been at this an hour, trying to control the fire in his hands, but there still hadn't been much progress. She had been so patient and understanding, always offering encouragement despite his increasing impatience and frustration.

Ward opened his eyes and took in another breath. He concentrated on the amount of fire he wanted to let loose and then threw his hands forward letting loose. A direct line of fire was sent and it incinerated the water bottle and nothing else. He had controlled it.

"You did it!" Skye shouted happily. She ran and threw herself onto him, embracing him in a hug. "I'm so proud of you! I knew you could do it!"

Ward had a grin as wide as the moon plastered on his face as he picked Skye up and twirled her around. She laughed happily and kissed him when he finally set her down.

"I told you that you could control it Grant." She looked so pleased with him that he wanted to do whatever possible to keep that look on her face.

"I couldn't have done it without a great and very patient S.O." He said with a smile.

"That's what I said to you when I first became an Agent." She was shocked that he'd repeated her words from two years ago.

"I know…figured the same words applied here."

Skye shook her head and smiled before kissing him again. "I love you Grant Ward."

"I love you too Skye Johnson." He parroted with a smile still plastered on his face.

"You know we're going to have to give you a codename. I'm Quake and as I plan on at least telling Coulson there's a new inhuman I need a code name so I can at least leave your name out of it."

"Well, we have time. I'm sure you'll think of something." He encouraged kissing her nose this time.

Skye giggled and returned his nose kiss. "I want you to try something. It's a way to control your powers without expending too much energy. I want you to try and turn it on and off and then control it through each individual finger. When the time comes you'll be able to save money on a lighter for that candlelight dinner you're going to make me."

Ward grinned. "How thoughtful of you."

Skye shrugged. "Come on, you can practice as we walk back to the cabin. You need some lunch." She slipped her hand inside his and intertwined their fingers. "Ooh, you hand is all nice and toasty. I have my own personal heater to sleep with in the cold winter nights."

"There are other ways to keep warm on cold winter nights." He suggested bumping her shoulder.

Skye laughed and bumped him back. "Practice with your other hand, let's go."

Ward gave a fake groan but began trying to control it anyways. He had been trying to get a single flame over his finger the entire walk back and it wasn't until he tried snapping his fingers that a spark happened and a small flame was produced.

"Look! Look! I did it!" Ward exclaimed proudly, stopping mid-step to show her the small flame.

"I knew you could." She said proudly, squeezing his hand.

"Oh, and no practicing the small trick inside the cabin please or anywhere within a hundred yard radius."

"Yes mom." He said teasingly.

Skye rolled her eyes but continued to walk back to the cabin eager to have a sandwich for lunch.

"We'll do some more training this afternoon if you're up for it." She offered.

"Yes. Definitely. I'm tired now but after some food and a nap I think I'll be good to go."

"Don't push yourself too hard. You can hurt yourself. Like I said, you're stretching and testing these new muscles we don't want them to pull or tear."

"I know. I know." He said for only the thousandth time.

"Don't get lippy with me. I control your sex life mister." Skye said both threatening and reminding him to behave.

They walked through the doors of the cabin and Ward made his way to the couch, flopping down with a groan of pain and a yawn. Skye made her way to the kitchen to craft them each a ham and cheese sandwich. By the time she brought him his sandwich he was already asleep, sprawled out on the couch. Skye smiled and sat in one of the chairs to eat her own lunch before going and crawling on top of Ward. He groaned slightly as she lay on top of him but rather than protest the extra weight he wrapped an arm around her and went back to sleep. Skye lay there just looking up at him and tracing random patterns on his chest with her finger. Not long after she found herself drifting off to sleep too.

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"Skye…would you give me my clothes back? It's not safe to be cooking without a shirt on, and I want my pants."

Skye laughed and just ran to the other side of the couch. "Nope."

Ward continued to chase her not willing to give in and make her breakfast with nothing but his boxer briefs on. He'd done it once before in his apartment and that happened to be when he was making bacon. Needless to say it wasn't a very pleasant experience and he did not want a repeat situation. Skye chose to run outside holding onto his clothes tauntingly and like an idiot he followed her. The only problem was she had managed to hide and it wasn't until the door was slammed shut and he heard the lock click that he realized he'd been trapped. It was freezing cold outside and all he had on was a thin piece of clothing.

"Skye! Let me in!" He pounded on the door knowing it would do nothing but occupy time.

"Not until you agree to make me breakfast in your underwear." She said through the door. He didn't have to see her to know she was wearing a smirk.

"No."

"Then have fun freezing outside. You're not coming in until you agree to make me breakfast."

"I've been through worse you know. This is nothing compared to being out in the snow in Minnesota in the winter with no shelter, so if you think I'm giving in any time soon, you're wrong." He retorted with a competitive smirk. What he didn't expect was the door to swing open.

"What did you just say?" She asked looking as if he'd just kicked her dog.

"I…nothing. Just that being out in the cold doesn't bother me." He repeated a little confused as to her reaction.

"No, no. What the hell happened where you out in the snow in winter with no shelter?"

"I…it was a training exercise Garrett had me do." He said looking confused as to the look of hurt on her face. Skye threw her arms around him, a few tears falling onto his shoulder. "Hey, hey, what's wrong?" Ward was lost as to the sudden change in her mood and why she was now crying in his arms.

"He left you in the woods during winter to fend for yourself?"

"I was 18, it's no big deal, besides…I had my dog Buddy keeping me company."

"You were a teenager and you were alone?!" She cried. Ward could feel her heart rate rising and tried to calm her down.

"Skye, it's okay. Take a breath baby." He soothed, stroking her hair.

"That's not okay Ward! That's not okay at all!"

"Skye, why are you so upset?" He questioned, regretting having said anything.

"Because that's nothing a kid should ever have to go through Ward. Garrett left you alone to fend for yourself in the woods. That's child neglect. Let alone the fact he technically kidnapped you and forced you into isolation. Hydra or not…no one should have to go through that…ever."

Ward didn't know how to respond and instead just gave her a soft smile and wiped away her tears. "I love you."

Skye nodded and kissed him. Their kiss was tinged with the taste of her salt-water tears. He continued to stroke her hair and wrapped an arm around her waist to hug her to him.

"Come on, let's go inside and we can cuddle by the fire place for a while."

Skye laughed a little through a sniffle. "I never would have pegged Grant Ward as the cuddling type."

"Depends who it's with. Besides…you and I have a special bond." He teased with a soft grin.

"Your humor has still not improved I see."

"Kebo would care to disagree." Ward combatted.

"Shut up and just come cuddle with me."

Ward kissed her head and walked inside with her, shutting the door and making his way to the couch. He laid down on the couch and Skye quickly climbed on top of him with a blanket draped over the two of them.

"Something tells me you'd be very upset if I were to tell you my whole story."

"You should save it for a night when I'm a little tipsy, I may be able to handle it better if it's going to be worse than what you've already told me and what Coulson has shared with me."

Ward sighed and breathed out the words, "It is." Skye snuggled into his chest and curled up on his body, tracing the lines and contours she now had intimate knowledge of. Ward must have been thinking about the same thing she was because in the next moment he asked, "How long does it take this bond to fully form?"

"Depends on how much we have sex truthfully, which sounds weird but that's how it works. Mom did distinguish a difference though. She said sex is what creates and builds a bond between inhumans, which is amplified through emotions. But…making love...that's what increases the intensity of it and dictates how long it takes the bond to fully form. Mom said the average time it takes for it to be fully formed is about three months, but each time you make love to your partner…it just solidifies the bond and in some cases it has sped up the process."

"Our history is quite fascinating." Ward mused.

"You could say that."

"You're still against having this bond, aren't you?" He asked feeling a little disappointed that she wasn't happy to have this connection to him.

"Not like that…I just don't like how it can make you feel when you're separated from your partner. Or how you're stuck with it the rest of your life even if they die before you. It…it makes you a slave. I guess I just don't see how that's love." Skye said with a shrug, her fingers still running over his chest.

"I don't see it that way at all. I see it as the world's way of affirming that we belong together. It only happens to people who truly love each other. It amplifies my already overflowing love and affection for you. It silences the doubts in my head saying that you could never really love someone like me." He confessed.

"What?" Skye stopped tracing him and lifted her head up to look at him, hurt in her eyes. "How could you think I don't really love you Grant?"

"Because I'm a monster. Who could ever really love someone like me after all the wrong things I've done in this life?" He asked allowing himself to be truly vulnerable with her.

Skye looked into his eyes and she saw straight past all the bravado. She saw a scared kid just wanting to feel loved and wanted. Someone who wanted to feel safe and like they belonged.

"Because I forgive you Grant. Nobody is perfect, not even me, despite the illusion in your head that says otherwise. I loved you before everything went wrong and I fell in love with you again after things went bad. Do you know why? Because you were willing to look past everything between us and love me for who I am. And I'm willing to do the same. I think you're a thoughtful and very romantic person. I love how you were always willing to put my safety at the forefront of everything you did; despite how much you don't like Coulson. I've always mattered to you, even from the beginning. And you know what…you mattered to me too. Do I think you've done awful things? Yes. Do I think that makes you beyond redemption? No. I love you Grant and I love how you treat me. So don't ever doubt my love for you, because I never doubt yours for me." Skye said looking him dead in the eye so there could be no misconceptions. "You're…you're my soul mate. The one I'm in love with." Ward leaned up and kissed her, his hand on the back of her head, tangled in her hair.

His caress was so strong yet gentle and his lips were kissing hers slowly and languidly. There was no rush, no pace, and no end in sight. Skye felt a slow burn begin to happen in her stomach and she wasn't sure if it was the direction things were going or if it was just Ward's body heating her up. Either way she was completely fine with it and even pulled him up off the couch.

"Where are we going?" He asked a little confused.

"To the bedroom, so I can make love to you and wipe out all of those doubts." She said with an easy smile and a squeeze of his hand.

Ward smiled and got up following her as she pulled him along. He loved this woman.

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"I'm a terrible trainor." Skye said with a groan as she sat up in bed.

"What? I don't think so. I've had more control of my powers these last two days than I have in three weeks."

"I'm supposed to be making sure you save your energy, that you're eating a lot of meat and instead you're using all of your energy and skipping meals."

"To be fair, I've willingly done so and will continue to do so. Because what just happened…that was amazing."

Skye looked over her shoulder and smiled at him, leaning back over the bed and kissing him. What she didn't expect was Ward pulling her back onto the bed.

"What are you doing?" She giggled as he kissed her neck.

"Round two." He whispered in her ear, punctuating it with a kiss to her temple.

Skye squeaked but let herself be overpowered. She wasn't opposed to a repeat performance.

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By the time they finally made it out of the bedroom it was nearing one in the afternoon and they still hadn't eaten anything, let alone done some more training. But Skye couldn't and wouldn't complain. Making love to Grant…twice…there were no words to describe her overflowing joy. It was a feeling she hadn't ever experienced before and she had a feeling part of it had to do with the ever increasing bond. Ward had fallen asleep in bed and she was laying beside him, her head resting on his chest, just listening to his heart beat and feeling the soft rise and fall as his lungs kept air flowing.

She'd never known what people were talking about when they would say that someone was glowing after sex but right now…she was pretty sure she finally understood and that she was, in fact, glowing. She stared at the relaxed lines on his face and just how peaceful he seemed to be sleeping, even with her on him. Skye bit her lip as she observed every single inch of his face and the more she saw the more she fell absolutely in love with him. She didn't need a bond to tell her he was her everything now, she felt that in her heart. She leaned up a little and placed a soft kiss on his jaw before carefully and slowly getting out of bed. He stirred just a little but stayed soundly asleep. Skye smiled and watched him sleep for another minute before slipping into the bathroom to finally shower before starting the day. She was starving and needing to wash her hair.

A half hour later she was silently creeping out of the bedroom and into the kitchen to find something to put together. She'd really only bought enough groceries for three days and it was nearing the end because of Ward's increased need for food. She bit her lip trying to decide whether to wait for Ward to wake up and go into town together to shop or to just go get it on her own. Not wanting for something to accidentally happen with his powers, Skye decided it would be best to go on her own. She looked around for a piece of paper and quickly scribbled out a note for him. She made sure her phone was on her and crept out quietly so as to not disturb his sleep.

It felt so weird shopping alone and she did her best to keep her face hidden from cameras. The last thing she needed was Coulson crashing her training house with Ward. That would not go over well in the slightest. It'd gone over so well with FitzSimmons before. Thinking of that put a slight damper on Skye's mood and she pushed that thought back to the corner of her mind. It was an hour later that she finally finished shopping. She'd used her shield tablet to look up different recipes and things that they could make as well as just grabbing some frozen dinners and pizzas. She could be un-healthy. After all…she was burning a lot of calories with Ward. And at heart she was a junk food junkie; not even Ward's usual dietary regimen could stop her.

The weirdest part of the whole grocery shopping experience was having to push the cart to one of the lesser populated back parking lots and then loading it onto the invisible Quinn jet.

The best part of the shopping trip was seeing Ward waiting outside of the cabin for her, a smile on his face.

"Welcome back beautiful."

"Hi." She greeted with a kiss as he met her at the bottom of the ramp. "How long have you been up for?"

"Five minutes or so."

"Oh, good. So you didn't have much time to worry about me."

"I only saw the note a moment ago and then I heard the jet landing."

"Well I'm glad you're awake. You can help me carry in all these bags." She said with a chipper voice, patting his chest.

"Yes ma'am." He chuckled walking into the jet with her. It only took them one trip, each piling as many bags on their arms as they could carry.

"You know…I'm gonna miss this place when we leave. It's like our own little shack." Skye thought aloud, a small sigh escaping her lips.

"So then let's get an apartment…together."

Skye froze and turned to look at him to see whether or not he was joking. "Oh…you're serious."

"I am, yes. Omega Point isn't that far from your base. We could just get an apartment and commute our separate ways. I wouldn't mind getting one closer to your base if you'd prefer. I'm quite alright driving an hour if it means I get to come home to you most days." Ward explained, hoping she would say yes.

"I…I need to think about it." She said worrying her lip.

"That's fine. I know what I'm asking isn't something light and easy to decide on in one second. Take all the time you need baby." He said encouragingly. Ward made sure to kiss her too just so she was sure he wasn't the least bit upset by her answer.

"Thank you…for understanding."

"Of course." He smiled and continued to help her put away groceries.

They had a few arguments over the amount of unhealthy stuff she bought but with nothing more than a kiss and puppy dog eyes, Ward gave up the fight for her unhealthy eating habits. After their beef stroganoff late lunch they sat outside for a while before going to train.

By the end of training, Ward was much more pleased with his level of control. He'd successfully managed to control his powers from his hands. His eyes and mouth…those they had much more work to do in order for him to gain some semblance of control. By the end of two hours of expending energy Ward was hungry and ready to rest again. Skye ate a frozen pizza for dinner while Ward made himself some weird meat protein thing and some pasta. His appetite was definitely increasing with the level of training she was putting him through.

That night they played one of the card games Garrett had taught Ward before going to bed. They were curled up against each other, Ward's arm protectively draped over her, and her head on his chest, one leg entwined with his. It didn't take long for either person to fall asleep after the day they'd had.

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"Let's go sleeping beauty, time to wake up." Skye said smacking a pillow on Ward's head.

"Hey." He protested with a groan, shoving the pillow off his face and turning over.

"Grant Douglas Ward. Now. We have training to do. It's nine a.m."

"This is a strange twist in karma I wasn't expecting and I don't like it." He mumbled into his pillow, eyes still closed with no intention to move.

"Up now or no sex for two days." She threatened, arms crossed.

Ward cracked an eye open to see how serious her posture was and if it was really just an empty threat. After a moment of observation he found her to be quite serious and with another groan he opened both eyes and sat up.

"That's a low blow Skye, even for you."

"I learned from the best." She whispered proudly in his ear before kissing his cheek.

"I don't like this change of events." Ward grumbled.

"I'm rather enjoying it. All the days I wanted to murder to you for waking me up at five am and now finally I get to have some revenge. They say it's a dish best served cold. All I had to do was wait two years and now here I am finally getting you to see how it feels. Now you have five minutes to get ready and meet me in the kitchen for breakfast. I already made lots of eggs." Skye was definitely in a good mood and part of it had to do with her small revenge she'd been planning for days, the rest had to do with memories from the day before.

There was incoherent mumbling from Ward as he got off the bed and began walking to the bathroom. Skye laughed and turned to go to the kitchen, finishing their egg sandwiches and bacon. She'd made a couple extra scrambled eggs just for Ward to eat as he needed the protein. She'd discovered that the hard way. Luckily Fitz had figured out the problem and with some protein bars she was on her way back to health. Skye had messaged Coulson earlier on in the day to let him know she was still okay but that she'd found another inhuman and was helping them. Explaining why she couldn't bring them to the base had been interesting to say the least but in the end Coulson trusted her judgment and told her to just keep her head down. She'd in turn told him she'd be back a week later and to tell everyone she was on an inhuman mission. With the assurance that they would still be alone for another week had improved Skye's mood a little as well. She wasn't quite ready to leave her little bubble of bliss.

"I'm going to be imagining those water bottles are you today." Ward said non-threateningly, shooting her a fake glare.

"Oh, we're not using water bottles today." Skye said with a mischievous smile on her face.

"What are we using?" He asked almost hesitant to even ask.

"Me."

"No. No. Absolutely not." Ward protested vehemently.

"Relax Grant. It's going to be fine. I know what I'm doing."

"No. I don't want to hurt you." He said again, concern written on every inch of him.

"What did I tell you? You can't hurt me and you need to practice trying to hit moving targets. You're going to be out in the field and not everyone is going to be standing still just waiting for you to hurt them."

"I'm not that in control Skye. I still can't control the degree of heat I let out." He said trying to dissuade her resolve.

"Trust me Grant." She assured, covering his hand with her own. "I know what I'm doing. Do I need to give you a little sex session to loosen up your body baby? Hmm."

He looked at her still concerned about their impending sparring. "No, I'll be fine. I trust you."

Skye smiled and kissed him, hoping that would calm his racing heart. It did indeed and she kept doing it until she felt it beating normally. When she pulled back she kissed his nose and put a hand on his face, meeting his eyes. "You're going to do great and I'm going to be fine."

He swallowed nervously but nodded and took a seat at the table. Skye set his plate in front of him and ruffled his hair slightly.

"That's a good boyfriend." She teased as he ate. Ward didn't have the heart to laugh, still too anxious about what could happen to her. "I slept on what you asked me last night, and then I thought about it some more this morning. And…I'd like to try that, getting an apartment together."

It was the first time all morning she'd seen him smile. "Really?"

"Yeah. I thought about it a lot, even had a dream about it, and I think it would be really good for us. Like, the next step in our relationship." Skye said, a small smile on her face as she took a bite of her breakfast sandwich.

"Yeah." He said smiling at her.

"Keep that on your face. I like it when you smile." Skye said softly. Ward looked away, almost as if he was embarrassed. Skye found it absolutely adorable and smiled a little wider.

When they had finished their breakfast they made their way out to the usual training spot. Skye had dressed in her Quake gear and was standing a ways off from his current spot. He was of course hesitating to start but after more reassurance and pressuring from Skye he finally tried shooting at her.

Skye dodged it easily enough and grinned at him. "You're gonna have to try harder than that if you want to get me babe."

Feeling a little bit better about their training Ward grinned and tried to get her again but she once more she dodged and even countered. He was knocked backwards onto the ground unexpectedly and he could hear her laughter as he was on his back.

"You're gonna pay for that." He grumbled, jumping to his feet and sending out a blast of fire from each hand. Skye stopped the first one, but the second one took her by surprise and she managed to avoid the blast by a mere second. "Yeah, how's it feel now?" He challenged.

Skye cracked her neck and sent a wave of energy towards him. He ducked and spun to the side. With the hidden hand he was clutching to his stomach he shot out a bigger burst of fire toward Skye. He wasn't sure why her back was turned to him but he only had enough time to yell her name and get her attention before the blast hit her full on in the chest. He watched horrified as Skye was knocked back, but instead of landing on her back he watched as she seemed to levitate in the air before landing on her feet, unscathed from his flames. He was watching her in horror and relief, as she remained standing. He ran over to her to inspect her for himself and apologize profusely.

"Skye."

"I'm fine Grant, really. I told you that you couldn't hurt me. I just wasn't expecting the energy of the blast to knock me backwards."

"Wait…you knew that it was coming at you?"

"Of course. I wanted to show you that you have nothing to worry about. I just was taken aback is all. I wasn't sure what way I would feel it. I was expecting to feel the warmth from your flames, not the energy of the blast."

"That wasn't very cool Skye. You really worried me." He said, a frown on his face.

"I'm sorry. But now do you believe me? You can't hurt me the same way I can't hurt you. All it is winds up being is equivalent to a push or a shove." Skye said sneaking her hands under his shirt and pulling him close to her. She pushed herself up on her tippy toes and trailed a path of feather light kisses along his jaw. "I'm sorry for making you worry baby."

"Yeah, well…" Ward grumbled shuffling his feet a little.

"I promise I'll make it up to you after we finish training."

"Yeah? How are you gonna do that?" He asked meeting her eyes for a moment.

Skye smiled and leaned over to whisper in his ear. When she was finished she had a wide grin on her face and observed how his jaw had locked up. "Deal?"

He nodded and accepted her kiss. "Don't do that to me again please."

"You should trust me more next time."

"Guess we both have something we can improve on." He said with a small smile.

"Guess so. But right now we're going to continue to improve your skills. You were doing really well Grant. You had more control today than you did yesterday. All you needed was a little sparring to help improve your aim." She said proudly, kissing his cheek. She noticed the slight increase in his heart and she knew that he was happy that he had pleased her. "Come on, again."

He nodded, feeling more confident this time now that he knew she was immune to his flames. He didn't feel as tired today training either. "I'm not gonna hold back this time, you better watch out."

That earned a laugh from Skye. "You…hold back? Hahaha oh Grant. You're so cute. I've had nearly a year's worth of training and you've had three days. Bring it Grant Douglas Ward."

"Middle and last name? Okay then." He grinned. Having a last minute, crazy idea that Ward was curious about he shook his hands down to the ground violently and concentrated. His idea turned out to be a reality. His entire body became engulfed in flames and he took the skies whooping. He'd always imagined what it would feel like to fly and now he was, the fire having propelled him up. Ward found himself both afraid and overjoyed with this newfound power. He stayed up in the air almost half a minute before he found his energy draining and concentrated on landing. When he dropped down in front of Skye, stumbling a little, he was panting but had a happy smile on his face. Skye was there shell shocked, looking on at him in disbelief.

"When…when did you learn you could do that?"

"I had a hunch and hope and I went for it." He said with a proud smile. "Wasn't that cool?! I can fly!"

"I…I'm still trying to process that." She said staring at him blankly.

"This is so cool!"

"My boyfriend can literally fly…and light himself on fire." She said incredulously.

"Yes he can." Ward said smugly and proud, wrapping his arms around Skye's waist and pulling her into a kiss. Kissing him seemed to pull Skye out of her realm of dis-belief and into acceptance.

"Grant." She laughed pulling back from him.

"What?" He asked with a grin pulling her lips back to his.

"Training, not showing off." She reprimanded pecking his lips.

"Yes ma'am. I don't know how much more I can do for today though. That stunt drained me pretty bad."

"Alright. We'll keep going until you're too tired, but let's keep up the good progress. This time stick to using your hands."

"You weren't saying that last night." He grinned. Skye's jaw dropped and she sent a pulse out knocking him backwards. "Oh I see, we're playing rough huh?" That stupid smirk was still on his face after Skye pushed him back and she did it again but this time Ward met her with flames of his own successfully pushing her back as well.

"Game on." She said before running toward him.

XxxxXXxxxSkyeWardxxxXXxxxX

It wasn't until six days later that Ward had managed to get some control over all his abilities. Skye had begun pushing him harder and making him stretch out his new muscles to the point where he was sure that he was going to break. In the end though he'd only grown stronger and gained more control. He felt like he had mastered the fire from his hands and even turning it on and off. He could snap his fingers and have a single flame appear over his pointer and then have it dance to his other fingers. He made a show of pretending to blow it out like a candle, which had only earned him a dramatic groan and eye roll. Shaking his hands down to the ground helped him channel the energy straight to his palms and also added the dramatic flare he liked. Skye said it was pointless in making it a show but he could tell she thought it was cool. She'd forced him to practice breathing fire and using his eyes even though he'd protested saying he wouldn't use them. His favorite thing to practice though was flying. And it was always fun sparring with Skye; they were more evenly matched now so it was a fair fight.

It was their last day in the cabin together, and then tomorrow he would have to return to Omega Point and she, to the Playground. They talked more about an apartment and even began looking at some on her tablet. So far nothing had really caught their eye or fit their price range. Skye was still working on an excuse for why she would no longer be living on the base and all she could think of was to blame it on the weird relationship with FitzSimmons and how she couldn't take it anymore. That however was a cop out and would require more explanation than she wanted to give. Skye had no intention of ever telling anyone about her relationship with Grant but she also did not want to quit working with Shield. It was a very precarious situation and she knew how everyone else felt about her boyfriend. She knew Hunter had shot him and that Bobbi was intent on killing him as well. May…yeah she wanted him dead probably more than anyone. Coulson was rather disgusted by the mention of his name, Mack just thought he was a bad guy, and FitzSimmons…Simmons had tried to kill him and wanted to again. Fitz just wanted Ward to feel the same way he'd made him feel. It didn't mean that they didn't all love her though, and she had a really important job with the inhumans at Shield. She couldn't very well abandon them all for Ward. After all, Ward was an inhuman now too.

"What're you thinking about baby?" He asked as he massaged her feet in his lap. They were sitting on the couch, but facing each other.

"You, my life with Shield, the excuse I'm going to give when I leave to live with you, my work with the inhumans. I'm just…trying to figure out how to balance everything when it all seems to be at odds."

"Oh. I'm sorry." He offered, massaging a little bit harder at the knot in her foot.

"It's okay. It's stressful but it's my stressful situation that I wouldn't trade. I love you and nothing will change that, or the life I want to build with you."

Ward smiled and let out a little amused huff. "I remember the first time I admitted to myself just how much I liked you. It was while I was watching you train on the bag maybe three weeks after you joined us. You caught me zoned off and you made a joke for me to stop fawning over you. I was so sure you knew exactly what I was thinking. I was so nervous thinking you knew how I felt."

"Is that why you cut our session so short that day?" Skye asked having just had a revelation.

"Yeah." He said with a nod.

Skye laughed and shook her head. "Let's see, the first time I remember concretely saying that I liked you was right after you found out about Miles. I was so confused as to why your reaction hurt me the most and it wasn't until Fitz said something that it clicked into place for me."

Ward smiled a little. "John sent me on that plane to find out what healed Coulson and to bring it to him so we could heal him. He knew I would be fine pretending, and being undercover. I mean I'd done it since my first day in the academy after all. I thought I would be fine too. It was just like some of the other assignments he'd sent me on before. But then you came and you just had to mess me up." He admonished with a small laugh. "I'd never felt that strongly about anyone like I did for you. There were so many times I wanted to just tell you what was going on, to find another way and tell John to look somewhere else. And then he shot you and suddenly I found myself drowning. If you didn't survive I don't know what would have become of me. I was so invested in finding that drug that was used on Coulson, more than I was for John. I wanted to kill him myself for hurting you and putting you within death's reach. When I shot the fake clairvoyant I really wanted it to be the real one. I wanted to be the one to protect you from ever being his pawn again."

"So why'd you stay with him? Why'd you still betray us?" She asked, not feeling upset as he told his side of the story, more curious.

"I…I owed him. Everything. I thought it was selfish of me to want something for myself when John had done so much for me and all he'd asked me to do was help find a cure to save his failing organs. He taught me how to survive, taught me how to shoot, to kill, to fight. He taught me never to trust anyone, to never let myself love or feel emotions for someone. I can see now that I didn't owe him everything. That I could have made the choice to tell you guys what was going on the whole time. I think about how things could have been different, how I would still have my friends." He reflected sadly. "Instead we're here now and the only people who seem to want to see me alive are you and Kebo."

"I'm sorry."

"It's my fault. I'm the one who made these decisions." He said trying to shrug it off.

"Coulson told me that Garrett used to abuse you. That he would beat you into submission or punish you for not doing exactly as he asked." Skye spoke up softly, wondering how he'd react to it.

"It's true. But I don't want to see myself as an abuse victim, not from my parents and brother, not from John. I just want to be Grant Ward, a man who has made many mistakes and has learned along the way."

"I love you Grant." She said, placing a hand on his foot.

"I love you too Skye." He replied with a small smile. "I'm glad we managed to find each other despite all the bad things that have happened around us."

"You know what…me too. Yeah, we've been through a lot, bad things have happened, and we've hurt each other, but we're here right now and despite what anyone will try and tell me, you are who I want to be with, bond or not."

"I would go back and change a few things."

"I wouldn't. I know you miss the team we used to have, but if anything were to change we wouldn't be where we are right now and we wouldn't be Inhumans." Skye explained.

"I have a question for you. Why did you start calling me Grant? I mean, I like it when you call me by my first name. But the only time before this that you've ever used my first time was in Spain, with the berserker staff. The rest of the time it's been Ward."

"I don't know why really. I mean I guess looking at it now…Ward is the guy who I knew on the BUS, but the man I've been seeing…this is who Grant Ward is, and I love him."

Ward nodded, satisfied with her answer. Skye took her foot back from him and spun around on the couch so she was lying in his lap, her head resting on his thigh.

"We still need to come up with a codename for you." Skye said through a yawn.

"Um…Flame?" He asked.

"Ew, no. I'm not going to date someone whose name is Flame." She said wrinkling her nose. She couldn't see it but Ward rolled his eyes at her.

"Okay, how about Fire Bird."

"Dear Lord you are awful at this. No. Try again."

"Fire man." He suggested. Skye groaned loudly in protest.

"NO."

"Fine, how about you try working on one then since none of mine are good."

"Fine. I will." She retaliated. "You have scary looking flames."

"Yeah, kinda makes me look like I'm burning in hell when I fly."

"That's it! Hellfire!" Skye announced triumphantly.

"Hellfire?" He asked.

"Exactly! It's brilliant and it sounds dangerous and has a bad boy ring when you say it. Also it's sexy, and you're sexy." She reasoned.

"I kinda like it. It does have a nice ring to it."

"Yeah, much better than Flame." She scoffed rolling her eyes at his lame attempt.

"Well sorry."

"You are not having a say in what we name our son." Skye said more to herself than to him.

"Our son?" Ward asked with surprise and confusion. "Oh my God, Skye are you pregnant?" He asked lifting her head off of him.

"No! No! Of course not." She said sitting up with her body half twisted, looking at him in alarm.

His once wide eyes returned to normal size and he breathed out a sigh of relief. "If you're not pregnant then why did you say our son?" He asked trying to clarify why she'd given him a heart attack.

"I…it just…slipped out." She said looking away. She hadn't thought about what she was saying before she'd said it. She didn't want him to know she'd been thinking about what having kids with him would look like. Who they'd be most like, what traits they'd get from each of them, and what powers they would have.

"Oh." He said, now unsure of what to say. He wasn't by any means ready for fatherhood but that wasn't to say he hadn't thought about it once, specifically with Skye.

"Um, let's just…talk about something else." Skye said trying to forget the conversation she'd caused.

"I'm sorry I didn't mean to freak out like that. It's not that I was repulsed by the thought of a kid or of you being pregnant with my child, I just…I'm not the kind of man who should be a father."

"What?" Skye asked, completely taken aback by his response.

"You can't honestly tell me you think I'd be a good father."

"What, and you think I'd be a good mother?" She asked with a scoff.

"Yes. You'd be a better parent than me by a hundred percent."

"Well I think you'd be a good dad. If how you act with me is any indication, then I can say you would be a good father."

"But I still make so many mistakes."

"So do I Grant. Every parent makes mistakes; there is no perfect age to have children. If everyone waited until they felt they were ready to raise a kid there would be no new generation."

"You…you want to have kids right now?" He asked shifting a little.

"No. That's not what I meant." She said with a sigh of frustration, putting her hand to her head. "Yes, I always dreamt of having a son or daughter but no, I don't want one right now. Do you want kids?"

"Of course, I just…I think it would be selfish for me to have any since I'm not father material."

"Yes you are. You're a better man than your brother and your father, despite the mistakes you've made along the way. You would be a great father Grant. I know it."

"How? How do you know?"

"I…I saw it in a dream." She confessed, her cheeks flaming red.

"Oh." He said, blushing a little himself. "I…had a dream about you being pregnant, but it was a little girl."

"You did?" She asked with a smile. He nodded and gave a sheepish smile.

"It actually made me kinda happy thinking about it, in the future I mean." Ward admitted.

"Yeah, same here." She agreed.

"I can't believe we're having this conversation. Is this weird?" He asked.

"A little." She nodded with a laugh. "But, I mean, I guess we would have had it at some point."

"So we both want kids, but at a later date, correct?" He clarified.

"Yeah." She smiled, twisting her body more to kiss him. He accepted her kiss happily and returned it.

"What about marriage?" He asked. "Would we be married before we have kids?"

"That's another big conversation."

"Might as well have them now, already got a head start." He chuckled.

Skye shrugged. "I guess you're right."

"I want to marry you before having kids."

"You do?" She asked with a smile.

"Of course. Did you think I wouldn't want to marry you?"

"I don't know." She said with a shrug. "Miles never really seemed big on the idea. I thought we'd always just be seriously dating. So I concluded that maybe you wanted the same thing."

"Beyoncé said if I like it I should put a ring on it." Ward retorted. Skye snorted and began laughing hard.

"Okay baby."

"So…do you want to marry me?"

"Is this your way of asking?" She challenged with an eyebrow raised.

"No, no. Of course not. You'd know if I was actually proposing to you."

"That worries me. Don't do some big, over the top proposal. Please." She begged.

"So you do want to marry me." He confirmed, trying not to let a smile overtake his face.

"Yes Grant, I would like to. You're my soul mate and I want to be with you in every possible way." She confessed, a smile on her lips. Ward smiled wide and pulled her face to his, kissing her a little more passionately than before. She returned the fervor of his kiss and felt that it was going further than just another kiss.

"Bedroom?" He asked when they broke for air.

"Too far." She replied with a smile kissing him again, knowing he had gotten the message.

XxxxXXxxxSkyeWardxxxXXxxxX

They had just finished their final training and sparring session with Ward feeling rather proud and smug. He'd managed to best Skye in their match despite her superior skills. Even though Skye had better control of her abilities, she still was quite the rookie compared to him when it came down to actual combat and espionage. It had been his life for more than ten years. She'd been in it for only three years. That had been his advantage. He'd crept along and snuck up behind her keeping his powers contained. It wasn't until he was behind her that he attacked and then it'd only been a few minutes sparring with flames and energy pulses until he had her in a chock hold.

He could see just how proud Skye was of him too. He'd made a lot of progress in a little over a week's time. He was proud of himself and how he'd actually allowed himself to open up to Skye and have a heart-to-heart. They'd talked about marriage, kids, and just the future of their relationship.

Currently she was looking for apartments on the couch and he was the one packing up everything, food included.

"Babe, come look at this one. It's an extra large one-bedroom apartment with a den. Look. It's got a living room, a place for us to make a dining room, kitchen, huge bedroom, walk in closet, nice bathroom. And it's just a 30 min drive for both of us to work."

"Oh, wow. That is nice." He agreed, looking at the screen over her shoulder from behind the couch as she went through the pictures.

"Yeah. I really like it. It comes with cable, a balcony, access to the fitness center, whirlpool hot tub, and there are walking trails around it. It's in a gated community."

"I love how the first thing you said is cable." Ward smirked. "So, how much is this place?"

"Oh…" Skye said dejected when she read the price. "Twenty-one hundred a month."

"We can afford that."

"We can?" She asked confused.

"Yes baby, we can. Email the people and ask for an appointment to look around."

"Are you sure? I'm sure we can find cheaper options. I don't make that much in a month."

"But I do. We'll just split it 70-30. I'll pay seventy percent and you can pay the rest." He said happily kissing her cheek.

"I don't want you spending that much on our apartment though Grant."

"Baby, we've been doing this for seven days and we haven't both liked an apartment until now. Don't worry about the money, okay?" Skye nodded, biting her lip. She always did that when she was nervous or hesitant. "Hey, I love you." He said with a kiss to her cheek.

"I love you too." She replied, a smile creeping its way onto her face. She set the tablet down and snaked an arm around his neck pulling him closer to her.

"What are you doing?" He asked with a grin.

"Just…getting in one last quick fix." She said kissing his jaw. "Indulge me." Ward grinned and moved to walk around the couch. "Not here." Skye said putting a hand on his chest. He looked at her confused as to where she meant. "Shower." She whispered in his ear. His grin stretched wider and he scooped her up into his arms.

An hour later later they had loaded the last of the stuff onto the Quinn jet and were taking off back to their bases. Skye was going to miss the peace and quiet of the cabin, the time she had to spend with Grant, without any outside things screaming for their attention. It was going to be hard being back on base with people who no longer knew her and some who had turned their backs. The hardest thing though was going to be being away from Grant. They hadn't spent time apart yet and Skye was a little worried how that was going to go over, what with their new eternal bond and all. She wondered the effect his absence would have on her and how long it would be until she had to see him again.

XxxxXXxxxSkyeWardxxxXXxxxX

Six days. That was the answer to her question. It only took six days apart to completely unwind her. They were supposed to be meeting the next day to take a look at the apartment off base but Skye felt as though she was unable to wait another day and she knew Ward felt the same. Without him she felt incomplete and like an intense craving had overtaken her. She felt like a drug addict; jumpy and as if every inch of her body simultaneously itched and burned. Everyone on base had noticed the change in her and so to dissuade suspicion she admitted that she was seeing a guy, the new inhuman she'd met while on a different mission. They'd all been curious but she'd given just enough details to satiate their curiosity without telling them it was Ward. It certainly was easier getting off the base now because all she had to do was say that she was meeting up with her new guy friend…Hellfire. FitzSimmons seemed to be friendlier toward her and Skye felt bad for leading them on. She hadn't stopped seeing Ward but she wasn't going to share his secret.

The next day she took a cab to the place they were meeting up at as Skye didn't want to risk another pair of eyes learning her secret. Ten minutes later and she was paying the cabbie and getting out at McDonalds in her new, royal blue, A-line, one-shoulder, chiffon, floor length dress with silver beaded belt at the waist. They apparently had a thing about meeting up at fast food restaurants. According to Ward they were going to go on an actual date after looking at the apartment and he'd texted her saying to look nice. So of course she had spent the time to curl her hair a little and do make-up. She'd brought a small bag with a change of pajamas as it'd been agreed that they'd spend the night together at a hotel and then go back to their respective bases.

She was standing not more than a minute before she heard someone wolf whistle at her from behind. She was ready to kick the person until she turned around and saw Ward standing there with a smile on his five o' clock shadowed face. He had on a nice red collared shirt and black suit and tie. Skye felt the atoms in her body begin to go crazy trying to push her to walk toward him. She felt like half a magnet, being pulled in the direction of the other half.

"Wow, you look stunning." He commented, eyes ravishing over her.

"You don't look so bad yourself, handsome." She replied walking toward him, bag in one hand, and purse in the other. They were grinning at each other as they closed the final distance and kissed. Once their lips touched Skye felt her cells begin to buzz and vibrate, taking over any conscious train of thought. It was like she had lost control and her body was taking what it needed from him. She dropped both bags onto the ground so she could use her hands to grab a hold of him and jump up. He caught her effortlessly and kept them balanced as their lips took what they desired. It wasn't until a bypasser yelled something at them that they finally stopped and she got down from him.

"Get a room!"

Skye was laughing and snorting at the person while Ward was blushing. He hadn't meant to get carried away but he also had no control over it.

"We should go, we're gonna be late for our appointment."

"I've been in a car with you before honey, we're not going to be late for anything." Skye teased picking her bags back up.

"Do…do you feel…different?" Ward asked as he walked her to his car.

"Yeah, like I'm now half satisfied instead of a total junkie looking for a fix."

"Oh, good. So I wasn't the only one feeling like that." He said releasing a breath of relief, ruffling his hair with a hand.

"Nope." Skye said popping the 'p' looking sideways at him with a grin.

"I take it this is the side-effects to being apart." He said still clearly flustered.

"Yeah. I just didn't think it'd happen so soon. I was thinking we'd be fine a good two weeks since it's early on."

"When have things ever been normal for us?" He asked opening the car door with a smirk.

"You have a point." Skye sighed getting in and minding her small dress train in the back.

"You look beautiful tonight, I don't think I said it before." Ward said with a smile leaning down and kissing her cheek.

"Thanks." Skye said with a blush forming. He smiled and shut the door going to his own side.

"So, the team knows I'm dating an Inhuman named Hellfire." She said with a grin turning to him.

"I take it they don't this person's real name?" He inquired, an eyebrow raised.

"Nah. It's a need to know detail and they don't need to know. They know he's a freelancer and an old friend of mine." She commented, a cocky grin.

"Freelancer, how clever of you." He smirked.

"I agree." She said leaning across the seat and kissing him once more.

"In other news, Kebo is a little weirded out that I can summon fire. I showed him the trick with switching the flame over my fingers and he was just staring at me for an hour." Ward retold chuckling.

"Did you tell him that we were looking to get an apartment?"

"Did you tell your team?" He countered.

"I asked you first."

Ward laughed and answered. "I did yes, he asked if it would still be okay to call me in the middle of the night if something happened."

"Why wouldn't it be?" Skye inquired with an eyebrow raised in confusion.

"He doesn't want to see me mad if he…interrupts us." Ward finished shaking his head.

"Oh. Please, he wouldn't have to worry about you. I'd be the one to cut him if that ever happened." Skye teased pushing his shoulder a little.

Ward laughed and a grin stuck on his face. "You never said whether or not you told them."

"I haven't. I'd rather wait until we have a place and a move in date. I don't want them trying to talk me out of it." Skye explained with a shrug. "They're still trying to adjust to the fact I have a boyfriend. I don't want them to know I'm moving in with him, nothing against you."

"Uh huh." He teased. "Sure it isn't." Skye pushed his shoulder again, rolling her eyes. "Hey! I'm driving here. What are you trying to do, wreck us before we get there?"

"Ugh, you're such a drama queen." She said with another roll of her eyes.

"What? I am not." He cried indignantly.

"Oh please. Don't even try to argue against this because I have so much evidence." Skye laughed. Ward kept his mouth shut but shot a glare her way. "That's what I thought." She smiled patting his leg.

XxxxXXxxxSkyeWardxxxXXxxxX

"Brazilian steakhouse? Ooo. You weren't kidding when you said somewhere nice. Wow. Grant, this is like…really really nice." Skye said suddenly nervous as she walked with him into the restaurant.

"Nothing you don't deserve." He replied with a kiss to her cheek, quelling her nerves.

"Hi, how can I help you folks tonight?" The hostess asked from behind her podium, a clear fake smile on her face.

"Hi, we have a reservation under the name Ward." He said calmly, an easy smile on his face. The hostess' face became buried in a list and when she reappeared there was another fake smile.

"Right this way Mr. Ward, we saved the back corner table as you asked."

"Perfect." Ward replied with that same easy smile that had Skye melting inside just a little bit. He squeezed her hand and they followed the hostess back to their table.

"Your waiter should be right over." She informed before making her exit.

"I was just thinking and we're doing this whole relationship thing so out of whack." Skye mused with an amused smile.

"What do you mean?" He asked with his head cocked to the side a little. Skye wasn't sure if he knew he was doing it but she found it absolutely adorable.

"Well, we just came from an appointment for an apartment that we're going to be renting and here we are on our first date weeks after we started dating and after we've already spent two weekends together." Skye said with a bemused smile.

Ward nodded taking her words into consideration. "I see your point but…I don't think we're doing this wrong. I think we're doing it at a pace that works for us. Rules have never applied to us since the first day we met and that's not a bad thing. We define our own relationship and how we want it to be built. Following the traditional route has never been our forte so why change it now?" He asked covering her hand with his.

"You have a point too." She said with a smile. "And it was awfully sentimental of you."

Ward shook his head and chuckled. "Shh, just don't tell anyone. I have an image to maintain ya know."

"Oh, right. Of course." She said with a laugh and a shake of her head. "Big bad scary Ward, Director of Hydra."

"Okay, you can tone it down Skye." Ward said with a roll of his eyes.

"So tough and badass." She said with a teasing grin.

"Oh my God, stop." He said running his hands over his face, trying to hide his smile.

"My name is Grant Ward and I'm so scary I make the octopus my organization has feel afraid of me." Skye smiled.

"Stop. Dear Lord, please stop." He chuckled covering his face.

It was that moment their waiter came over and saved Ward from further teasing.

"My name is Henry and I'll be your server tonight. Can I start you out with something to drink? Perhaps a bottle of our best pinot noir?"

"Oh no th-" Skye began to say.

"We'll take two glasses thank you." Ward interrupted Skye with a smile. "And also two glasses of water."

"Sure. I'll be right back with your drinks, in the mean time…" He put down what looked like a wooden hour glass but with one half of it green and the other half red. "While this is green side up it lets the people walking around with the meat know that you want some, red side up means you're not wanting any more. In the mean time the buffet section is open so feel free to get up and get some food."

"Thanks Henry." Ward said giving him a smile just before he left.

"What was that Grant? Do you know how expensive that wine probably was? They always offer you the most expensive thing they have."

"Skye, relax. We deserve a nice night, and I want to give you a relaxing dinner with some good wine and some expensive meats." Ward smiled at her.

"Fine. Fine. But I don't want you spending an excess amount of money on me. Please Grant." She pleaded.

"I make no promises. I've never had a girlfriend to spoil and give the world to." He said with an embarrassed shrug.

"Grant." She said softly, getting up from her seat and kissing his cheek.

He leaned into her touch and smiled. "I take it you got up to go get food?"

"Yes I did, but also to kiss you." She admitted with a grin.

"Let's go eat." He grinned with a shake of his head.

XxxxXXxxxSkyeWardxxxXXxxxX

They were cuddled up together on the hotel bed watching a movie in silence when Skye spoke up.

"So, did you actually like the apartment?"

"This again?" Ward asked with an exasperated sigh.

"Be honest, please." She said switching positions so she was lying on her stomach looking up at him.

Ward rolled his eyes and let out a groan. "Skye, I really did like it. I'm not just saying that because it's what you want to hear. I'm saying that because I feel like it is the right place for us. It's nice and it's open and it's perfect for us."

"You mean that?" She asked with a smile.

"Of course I mean that. We're going to have a place we call our own, a bed that we share, just…our space. What about that wouldn't I like or want?" He asked stroking her back.

"I love you Grant Ward." She mused tracing the contours of his face.

"I love you too Skye." He replied still stroking her back.

She stretched herself up some and kissed his lips ever so softly. "Start of a new life together." She murmured on his lips.

"Sounds wonderful." He replied, lips vibrating on hers. Skye giggled a little and moved her body so she was straddling him.

"You know…I'm still feeling a bit…un-satisfied." She said suggestively with a grin.

"Wouldn't want to disappoint on a first date, so I shall do something about that." He replied playing along.

"Good." She whispered before leaning down and kissing him.

XxxxXXxxxSkyeWardxxxXXxxxX

It was just one week later that Skye and Ward were moving into their new apartment. Skye had told her team she was moving out the day before and no-one had taken it well. They'd insisted she stay, that she didn't know her boyfriend all that well to be moving in with him. A fight with Coulson had ensued and ended with Skye saying it was her life to live and not theirs. She hated that she seemed to be growing apart from her friends the more she grew closer to Ward, but at the same time this had been happening even before she and Ward reconciled. For months now she had been starting to grow apart from the hive mind of Shield and more towards her people, Inhumans. Ward had just been the climax of her ever-increasing distance with the team. There had been tears shed as she left the base in one of the SUV's with a box and suitcase in the backseat, but no one had stopped her from going. She'd promised them that she would invite them over for dinner with her boyfriend in the oncoming days but for now, she needed the time to adjust to life with him.

When she arrived at the apartment she found Ward already inside and unpacking his clothes into their bureau. He'd mentioned that him and Kebo had gone out shopping for some furniture and that some guys from his Hydra crew had helped move and assemble the furniture into their apartment earlier that morning.

"Hi honey, I'm home." Skye crooned with a grin as she held the box in the crook of her arm, towing the suitcase behind with her other hand.

Ward popped his head out from the bedroom and saw Skye walking toward him from the living room. A grin emerged onto his face and he ran over to her. Skye dropped her stuff onto the couch and table, running the final few feet to him. He scooped her up into his arms and spun her around with the biggest smile occupying his face. Skye was laughing and grinned as he spun her around.

"I'm glad you're finally here. I was wondering how long it would take you to pack up and actually get here." He teased setting her back down onto her feet with a kiss to the cheek.

"That's a terrible joke. And what took so long was trying to convince everyone I'd be back on Monday morning."

"Well, glad you could make it either way. I went out and bought some things for dinner but we're going to have to go out grocery shopping tomorrow and then go interior decorating shopping some time on Sunday." Ward informed.

"Well, for now let me just put away the stuff I do have. Mind escorting me to the bedroom?"

"Right this way malady." Ward said with a bow.

Skye laughed and slugged his shoulder. "Who are you and what have you done with Grant Ward?"

"I think my girlfriend is just drawing out the inner me." He replied grabbing her suitcase from the ground. He took her hand in the other and lead her into the bedroom.

"This ought to be an interesting experience, creating a home together." Skye said happily as she un-packed her clothes with Ward.

"Yeah. I'm rather looking forward to it." He replied with a grin.

"Yeah well I'm napping after I put away my things, so if you were planning on breaking in this bed, you'll have to wait."

"Nap? It's literally three in the afternoon Skye. How could you possibly be tired?"

"Maybe because I was up early training and then I was filled with anxiety the rest of the day, so excuse me for being a bit tired. Who are you? The nap police?" She asked in a tone that warned him not to say anything else.

"On second thought, go ahead and nap. That sounds like a great idea."

"There ya go. See, you're learning already." She mocked with a smile, patting his cheek.

"Yeah yeah." He mumbled.

Skye laughed and shook her head, feeling delighted to be unpacking her things along side Ward's in their own personal space. It certainly was going to be one interesting experience, but they had the rest of their lives together to create.

XxxxXXxxxSkyeWardxxxXXxxxX

Ward made her Tilapia, peas with mushrooms, and mashed potatoes for dinner. Of course Skye had eyed it wearily but she tried it anyways, not wanting Grant to think she didn't appreciate the meal. It was his attempt to get her to eat healthier and expand her palette to more than just junk food and fast food. She had to admit, it was much better than she was anticipating and she tried to eat it at a steady pace so as to not let him know it was delicious and she wanted to scarf it down and get more. Ward was an incredible cook and if all his 'healthy' meals tasted this good she wouldn't mind eating more of them. It was a nice peaceful meal they shared over laughter and flirting. Ward had also made them some pecan pie or as he put it, a treat for Skye for eating her vegetables and protein. She'd stuck her tongue out at him, but when she took a bite of the pie all teasing went out the door. His cooking would be the death of her. She was all but moaning her delight as she ate the pie. Ward found himself both amused and turned on by her noises.

After dinner they made their way into the bedroom to relax and get ready for bed.

"Hey, take a picture with me."

"Here? It's not very bright in here."

"Which is the perfect type of picture to send to everyone back on base."

"How clever you sneaky minx." He admired, pulling her to him with a grin and kissing her temple. Skye laughed and pulled out her phone.

She took a blurry photo of her and Ward in their dimly lit room and sent it to her friends. It was clear enough to make out her face and a muscled male body but his face was kept obscured by the darkness of their room. The light outside illuminated the shape of his body and highlighted his hair but kept his identity secret. It was a perfect photo to send to her friends but Skye made him take another one with her as they laid in their bed together. Ward said he'd take it and took her phone from her. He curled her up into his chest and kissed her head. Skye's hand was laying on his chest and she was smiling wide as he kissed her. He snapped the photo not knowing her smile was so bright and when they looked at the photo Skye cooed 'aww' and Ward smiled in appreciation.

"I'm sending this to my phone. It's gonna be my new screensaver."

"It's such a cute photo Grant." She said in approval leaning up to kiss him.

"I love you Skye." He said softly returning her kiss.

"I love you too Grant." She replied pecking his lips before climbing out of his embrace.

"Where are you going?" He whined not liking her sudden absence from his arms.

"I'm changing for bed silly." She said with a roll of her eyes as she took off her shirt and chucked it at his face. Ward caught it easily and scoffed throwing it back at her. He followed suit and got off the bed stripping his own clothes. They exchanged looks and amused smiles as they got ready for bed and continued throwing dirty clothes at each other.

As they laid in bed together phones set aside on their respective night stand, they both couldn't help but think about where they were. They were curled up together in _their_ bed in _their_ own apartment. She smiled wider as she thought of that and swung her body so she was straddling him.

"Well hello there." He joked.

"Hi." She replied, her hair falling in her face.

Ward brushed her hair back and tucked it behind her ear, so he could meet her gaze.

"What are you thinking about?" He asked stroking her sides.

"About you." She answered smiling down at him.

"What about me?" He asked an eyebrow raised in both curiosity and worry.

"About how you love me. About how much I love you. About how even before you were Inhuman I was drawn to you, even when I wasn't an Inhuman we were always attracted to one another. And I was thinking about the first time we made love and how you made me feel that I was the only person in the world who mattered and that no one else in my life has made me feel that way before." Skye said softly, caressing his face with her hands. She leaned down and kissed him tenderly. She pulled back an inch and rest her forehead on his so as to look into his eyes.

"Then let me make you feel that way again." He whispered wrapping his arms around her back. He tilted his head up and captured her lips with his as he flipped them over ever so slowly, wanting to shower her with affection. "I love you Skye."

"I love you Grant." She whispered, breath taken from him.

He smiled down at her again before kissing her a little rougher than before but holding her gently. He took his time and it wasn't until the early hours in the morning they both fell asleep tangled up together.

XxxxXXxxxSkyeWardxxxXXxxxX

Wednesday night when Skye returned home from work she found Ward making dinner for the both of them.

"Honey, I'm home!" She announced happily walking through the door, her bag slung over her shoulder.

"I'm in the kitchen!" He called out.

"Mmm, smells good babe." Skye smiled walking into the kitchen, wrapping her arms around his waist. "What is it?"

"Pork chops. Figured I'd make you something a little greasy tonight."

"Aww, Grant. That's so sweet." She said pushing herself up on her toes and kissing his cheek.

"Don't get used to it. I'm making sure you eat healthier."

"When you're here anyways. You still have an organization to run…Director." She whispered in his ear with a nip to his neck.

"Hey, not now. You know that's one of my rules, not while I'm cooking."

"Hence why I only nipped you and nothing more." She said with a grin slapping his butt.

"I'm going to ban you from the kitchen if you don't stop touching me. No distractions with the stove on Skye."

"Ugh, you're no fun." She said with a roll of her eyes going into their bedroom. As per her routine she changed out of her work gear and hung up her 'Quake' gear in the closet. Wednesdays was training days with Joey and today had actually been great. As she went to open the closet she heard a small noise from the back corner. When she probed it open further the noise level increased. She tracked it down to a large cardboard box tucked away. Upon opening it she screamed.

"GRANT DOUGLAS WARD!"

Ward came running into the room a second later, a fork in hand. "What? What is it? Are you okay?" He asked on full alert.

"Why is there a puppy in our closet?!" She screeched.

Ward flushed red. "Oh uh…surprise." He said weakly.

"Ward." She demanded.

He winced and offered another explanation, "When I was at work Mike said there was a security breach and we found this little guy wandering around looking for food so I…took him."

"I can't believe you. We've literally been here for five days and you've already adopted a pet."

"Look at that little face and tell me no. If you can say no to that adorable little golden retriever puppy face, then I'll bring him back."

Skye looked down in the box again. The puppy was yipping and looking up at her as if she was the one who was supposed to lift him out of the box. He did have a cute face.

"You named the dog, didn't you?" She questioned, arms crossed, eyebrow raised, foot tapping.

Ward looked at her sheepishly and nodded, scratching the back of his head. "Bandit."

Skye sighed a put a hand on her face. "You can keep the dog."

Ward's face erupted into a smile and he kissed her gratefully. "Thank you, thank you, thank you. You're gonna love him Skye, he'll be like our own little fur baby."

Skye watched as he skipped out and had to laugh a little. As he ran to go take care of his food again she lifted the dog out of the cardboard box and held him in her arms. "You are a little cutie Bandit. Don't tell him I said that. He's such a softie, it's no wonder he brought you back." Bandit just stared at her and licked her arm.

"Go bother Grant." She said with a sigh setting the squirming puppy down on the carpet. He trotted out of the room and with a shake of her head she continued to change into her pajamas. She listened to the sounds of Grant talking to Bandit like he was a baby and the puppy yipped happily in response to him.

"Grant, what am I going to do with you?" She asked with a sigh. Upon closer inspection in the closet she saw that he'd already bought a bag of dog food and had some toys hidden away. Clearly this was something he really wanted. She could guess why, she knew of his past and what happened to the last dog he had.

She went out to the living room with her phone in hand and began to research how to take care of a dog. She'd never had a pet before and the last thing she wanted was to mess it up and accidentally kill poor Bandit. Speaking of the devil, Bandit came bounding up to her and began whining looking to the door. "Grant your dog needs to go outside."

"Can you do it for me please babe? Dinner is almost done but I can't leave. His leash is in the closet in the box." He pleaded.

"Grant Douglas Ward you're pushing your limits tonight." She warned.

"I promise dinner will make up for it."

"Uh huh. It better." She muttered getting off the couch and going to grab the puppy's leash. She put it on his collar and walked outside to the trails with Bandit happily trotting alongside her. "You're lucky you're so cute." She said to the dog as he sniffed around the grass in the back of their building looking for some place to pee. Once Bandit finished peeing he walked back over to Skye with a growl. Bandit walked past her, still growling and as she turned around she came face to face with May.

"May." She said alarmed. It took her a moment to register Bandit still growling. "Calm down Bandit, it's okay." The dog seemed to listen to her and she wondered how she'd gotten him to listen so easily. He didn't look trained.

"Nice dog."

"Gra…great dog. Boyfriend just surprised me with him ten minutes ago. What are you doing here May?" Skye said catching herself.

"Just came to surprise you."

"I never gave out my address…you…you followed me here?"

"Can you blame us Skye?"

"Us?" She asked suddenly alarmed. May had brought someone else and chances were it was Phil. And if he was no where in sight that could only mean…her face fell and she yanked on Bandit's leash. "Let's go Bandit!" She said running away from May and back to the apartment. To his credit, Bandit seemed to be keeping up with her with easy as she ran up the stairs.

"Skye!" May yelled, following after her.

"Grant!" She yelled running into their apartment, panic on her face. When she walked in she saw Coulson with his weapon trained on Grant whose hands were up in surrender. He was still in the kitchen, a broken plate on the ground in front of him. Bandit began barking and ripped himself from her grip going after Coulson. The distraction gave her enough time to send out a burst of energy that knocked the gun out of Coulson's hand and stand in front of Grant.

Ward withdrew the weapon from his waistband and trained it on May who came in the door a moment later. "Bandit, come here boy." Ward called, whistling for emphasis. The puppy backed away from Coulson and walked over to Ward, standing by his side, still growling at Coulson and May.

"Ward?" May asked in disbelief looking to Skye who stood in front of him protectively.

"How could you do this Skye?" Coulson asked genuinely shocked. "Him! Of all people. He's a monster."

"Don't listen to them Grant." Skye said glaring at Coulson and May.

"And you're sitting here protecting him?! All this time that we've been after him and every time our intel comes back with nothing to show for it." Coulson said aloud as if connecting two trains of thought.

"That's not true! You killed innocent people when you were hunting me!" Ward retaliated. "Skye was trying to protect those people from your cruelty."

"And yet you're the one with a gun trained on us." May glared.

"Because Coulson had his weapon pointed at him and he was unarmed at the time." Skye defended.

"How could you do this to us Skye?" Coulson asked again, appearing to be heart broken.

"I didn't do anything." She replied coldly.

"You've isolated yourself from everyone on base and for what? For him?" Coulson asked, seemingly disgusted and in disbelief.

"Yeah, for him. My soul mate." Skye said proudly, glancing at Ward.

"Soul mate?" May questioned with a scoff.

"Yeah soul mate. Show them Grant." She said nudging him knowing he would understand. He held the gun in one hand, still training it back and forth between May and Coulson, and with his other hand he summoned fire. Coulson and May jumped back with a gasp.

"I'm Inhuman. Surpise." He said with a dark humor.

"You're Hellfire." May said, her eyes hardening.

"I came up with that name for him. I'm rather proud of it." Skye said with a small smile. Bandit seemed completely unfazed by Grant's hand on fire and continued to stand by his side.

"He's Hydra."

"Yes and that doesn't mean anything anymore. You're no better than the old Hydra Coulson. You used to have morals, values, you used to stand for something. You used to give people second chances, see past their mistakes and build them up again. But when it comes to Grant you're blinded by your own hatred of how things went down with Garrett. He's a different person, he's Inhuman and he's working with my department now. Hydra is going to be providing backup to all Inhuman missions just like they unofficially have been in the past."

"I am?" Ward whispered in her ear. She elbowed him letting him know it was not the time.

"Skye, just listen to yourself. He's blinded you. Hydra are the bad guys." Coulson pleaded.

"No Phil, where I'm standing Shield are becoming the bad guys. The way Grant is running Hydra…he has stronger morals than you do. He cares more about the people who work under him than you care about everyone under you. I've seen the proof of that. You're working with the ATCU who, by the way is actually working for the old Hydra. The president of that is Gideon Malick and he's using you. He's the one who gave the intel on Grant's hospital training base in the attempt to kill Grant." She watched as Coulson and May tried to absorb the information and even Grant seemed a little taken aback.

"When did you learn that?" Ward whispered. Again she elbowed him.

"So before you accuse Grant's organization of being the bad guys you should know he's the one who has provided me with most of our leads and has provided back up on missions for me. He's had my back for the past four months and now that he's Inhuman he will always have my back. Inhumans bond with one person, who is said to be their soul mate. You share such an intense connection with this person that you can feel when they've been injured and you can sense their emotions. When you bond with another Inhuman it's even stronger and the bond can never be broken. So if you kill him…you kill me." When Skye finished giving her speech and ultimatum the room went silent. Coulson and May exchanged glances and Skye watched as tears formed in Coulson's eyes.

"We won't kill him…but you won't be continuing to work for Shield. You need to turn in your badge and gun now." Skye nodded and swallowed the lump in her throat.

Ward grabbed her arm and turned her to look at him. "Don't give this up for me Skye."

"I don't have a choice Grant. I can't live without you. I knew it was only a matter of time until this happened." Tears began to appear in her eyes and his eyes got glossy as well. She left the room and returned with her lanyard, badge, and her issued gun. She dropped them in Coulson's hands and motioned to the wall by the door. "Keys to the SUV are hanging up." Her voice cracked.

May grabbed the keys and took Coulson's arm. He looked heart broken as May began to pull him out of the apartment. "You can tell everyone the truth, that I chose Grant and the life I have here with him." Skye said to their retreating forms, meeting May and Coulson's eyes one last time. When the door closed Grant dropped his weapon and pulled Skye in a hug. She began to cry and Bandit whined nudging her leg with his nose, trying to rub against her.

"I'm so sorry Skye. It's gonna be okay baby." Ward comforted. Skye nodded and held onto him tightly.

"I know." She sniffled.

"Come on, let's eat dinner. I'm not going to let them ruin the special meal I made for you." He assured rubbing her back.

Skye gave a half laugh and another sniffle. "Every meal you make is special."

Bandit whined again and rubbed against her leg. Skye let go of Grant and bent down to pet him. "It's okay Bandit. Yes, good dog. You've been a very good dog."

"Looks like you don't mind his presence anymore." Grant said trying to hide his smile as he cleaned up the broken plate on the floor.

"He protected you…us. That makes him good in my book." Skye reasoned, blowing her nose and patting Bandit on the head.

"He already is proving to be just as loyal as Buddy." Grant said softly, a sad smile on his face.

"Is that why you wanted to keep Bandit?"

"Yes." He admitted. "I want a second chance to protect my dog."

Skye smiled and blew her nose again. "You're a good man Grant Ward, don't let anyone tell you different."

"I love you Skye." He said placing a kiss on her lips as he set dinner down in front of her.

"I love you too Grant…forever." She said looking up into his eyes. He smiled and kissed her again.

"Movie tonight?" He asked sitting down with a plate of dinner for himself.

"Yeah, I'd like that." She nodded. Much to their surprise Bandit laid silently beside the table not begging for food once. The golden retriever puppy was quickly growing on Skye. He was well behaved and he wanted to protect the both of them after only a few hours of knowing them both. He was going to be a good fit in their little rag tag family.

The rest of their night passed by uneventfully and Skye fell asleep earlier than usual, exhausted from all the emotions. When Grant came in their room late at night and settled in bed Skye curled up to him and Bandit laid at the foot of their bed, watching the door for any attack that may come.

XxxxXXxxxSkyeWardxxxXXxxxX

She was eating breakfast with him the following Friday before he went off to Omega Point when Ward approached the question he had been wanting to ask for weeks.

"Come work with me."

"What?" Skye asks through a mouthful of cereal, unsure she heard him correctly.

"It's something I've been thinking about for a long time. We could use your help and you could have that team you've always wanted. We can try and recruit that kid, Joey and maybe even Lincoln. Lash is still out there and you all are the only ones who can stop him. You can be my co-director. You don't have to give me an answer now, but just think about it. I've had this in mind for a while now and now you don't have any obligations stopping you. You make the rules, and you can have any resources you need."

"Equals?" She asked with an eyebrow raised.

"Always." He smiled kissing her head. "Alright, I have to get to work. The guys have been really loving Bandit."

"Careful Grant, your soft side is coming out." Skye teased.

"What's so bad about that? They all know I can snap their neck if they betray me. Besides, having a great working environment is conducive to the work we're doing." Ward said pleased with himself as he threw on a jacket and called Bandit. The puppy came running up to him with leash in his mouth.

"Aww look at that. Bandit knows it's time to go to work." Skye said with an amused smile.

"He's a smart dog." Ward said with a grin ruffling the puppy's fur. Once the leash was on, Bandit was pulling him to the door. "Hold up buddy, we need to kiss Skye goodbye." Bandit whined but ran over to Skye and waited for her to bend down so the puppy could lick her.

She did, as per their routine, and he licked her cheek once. Skye laughed at the rough tongue tickling her face and wiped at it with her arm. She stood up from her spot and smiled at Grant winding her arms around his waist.

"Have a great day at work honey." She playfully said before stretching up on her tiptoes to meet his lips.

"I shall. Think about what I said."

"I will." She assured, nodding her head.

"Good. I'll see you later."

"Stay safe baby."

"Always." He assured kissing her once more.

Skye walked them out the door and smiled when Grant turned around and waved goodbye to her. Going back in the door she finished up her breakfast and then went onto her computer. Ever since she'd been fired, her and Grant had created a new routine. She'd wake up early in the morning with him and they'd go for a run with Bandit. They'd train a little bit in a random part of the woods they'd run to and Bandit loved seeing them use their powers. He wasn't afraid at all and found it funny when Skye would knock Grant onto his back. He'd jump onto Grant's chest and start licking his face, his tail wagging so hard Skye could feel a breeze coming from it. After training they'd jog half the way back and then walk back the remainder, holding hands with Bandit walking in front of them. Grant would feed Bandit and then him and Skye would shower. Some days they'd spend longer in the shower, having gotten distracted by each other, and other days it was a quick in and out. They'd dress and then eat breakfast occasionally playing with Bandit. Once breakfast was over Grant would take Bandit and leave for work and Skye would be left home alone bored out of her mind. She'd try and find something to do, clean the house, watch TV, go on Tumblr but she was bored constantly.

Now…now she had the chance to get back to her old life, what she loved doing. And the best part was she could do it with Grant. She wouldn't have to hide anything from him. They could be a team again and what a damn fine team they'd be, always had been. The guys at Hydra already knew who she was and she was friendly with a couple of them. She really didn't need to think about it. She wanted to do it. She loved that Grant wanted her to think about it and didn't want to pressure her, but there was no downside to saying yes. She could be there and have his back, have her old job back, get to have her own team of Inhumans, and she'd be the one to make the rules this time around.

When Grant got home at five Skye surprised him with a pillow fight and the challenge that loser makes dinner. Grant had of course let Skye win for the sole reason he was afraid she'd burn down the kitchen. It had almost happened last time she tried to make dinner. He made spaghetti for dinner and salad. Over dinner was when Skye initiated the conversation about joining him.

"Remember what you asked me this morning?"

"The job offer, yeah."

"I want it."

"Really?" He asked excited, his face lighting up.

"Of course!" She said with a smile. "One more day here alone and I'm sure I would have killed myself from the boredom."

Grant grinned and leaned over the table to kiss her. She met him halfway and kissed him happily. "Ugh, God I love you."

Skye laughed as she sat back down. "I love you too Grant."

Bandit barked as if to chime in that he loved them too. "Aww, yes, we love you too Bandit." Skye smiled patting his head.

"Go lay down Bandit." Grant said with a smile. He listened and went into the living room to lay down on his bed.

"I didn't want to admit this, but he really is a good fit for us."

"Yeah, he is. I didn't know it at the time but he fits in really well. All the guys at work love him too. He's always getting Kebo to feed him human food cause he knows just how weak Kebo is against his puppy eyes." Grant said with a grin twirling his fork in the spaghetti.

Skye laughed as a knock on their door resounded.

"If that's Mrs. Cardinal telling us to keep it down…again, I'm going to strangle her myself." Skye threatened as she got up and walked to the door. Grant chuckled but remained seated.

Skye opened the door and froze. She breathed out in a whisper, "Fitz."

Bandit came running to the door, tail wagging and greeted Fitz with a bark. Fitz looked down and smiled. "Puppy!" He bent down and pet the dog, momentarily ignoring Skye.

"His name is Bandit." Grant spoke up, walking up to them from behind Skye.

Fitz looked up at Grant then went back to petting their dog. "Hi Bandit, you're a cute little puppy." Bandit rolled over onto his belly for Fitz, his tongue hanging out. Fitz obliged the puppy and rubbed his belly.

"What are you doing here Fitz?" Skye asked looking down at him confused.

He stopped petting Bandit and stood back up again. "May I come in?"

"Are you going to try and shoot me?" Grant asked wearily.

"No. I didn't bring any weapons."

"Come on in Fitz." Skye said stepping aside, a small smile on her face.

"Oh, I'm sorry, I didn't mean to interrupt dinner." Fitz apologized when he saw their untouched dinner on the table.

"It's fine. We just sat down, would you like some?" Ward asked.

"I can't stay long. They don't know I came to see you."

"Oh. Fitz…don't get in trouble over me. It was my choices that led me here and I'm okay with it, but I don't want you to get in trouble."

"It's fine. I just…I came here to understand."

"Well, please, have a seat." Ward said motioning to the couch. Fitz took a seat and Bandit jumped up and sat beside him, exposing his belly again. Skye and Ward took a seat together in the recliner, Skye curled up in his lap.

Fitz watched them closely and looked down at his hands a moment before looking back up. "I was standing out there a while and I heard some of what you were saying and that's when I knew that you weren't being brainwashed or controlled or anything like that. You both were laughing and saying 'I love you'."

"Is that a question?" Skye asked a little confused.

Fitz shook his head and nervously pet Bandit. "I want to know when and how it happened."

"Four months ago I was on a mission and late one night a phone started ringing. Grant had had one of his guys slip a phone in my pocket after bumping into me and that was when we started talking. He gave me the person I was supposed to be meeting tied up in a nice little bow. Turns out he was actually planning on killing me and Grant and his team took care of that. After that mission he'd call me whenever he had information on a case I was working or I'd call him when I needed information. After that it slowly turned into friendly calls and texts and I would start getting nervous when there wasn't a call. All the old feelings I had just kept resurfacing every time I saw him or talked to him. Then he stopped calling and I didn't hear from him for a long time so I went looking. That's when I learned he'd become Inhuman. I took him to the secret cabin Coulson brought me too and I helped him get his powers under control and over those two weeks I fell in love all over again. My mom told me the story of this Inhuman bond that some of us develop. When an Inhuman falls in love it's the strongest bond on earth and nothing can break it. A sixth sense forms for that Inhuman when it comes to their loved one. If they fall in love with another Inhuman that bond becomes ten times stronger than one with a human. That's what happened with Grant and I. When you bond…you only become whole when you're with that person. The longer you go without being near them the more physically painful it becomes. And when that person dies…you lose yourself and you become a shell of the person you used to be. You die on the inside. That's what Grant is to me Fitz and that's what I am to him. I'm so sorry for leading you to believe that I had broken up with him but I knew how you guys would react when you learned that I had only fallen more in love with him. It breaks my heart knowing that I'm the one who has broken our friendship but…Grant is my life now and you all wouldn't accept him as a part of it. I know he's hurt you, he's hurt me too and we've all hurt him as well. I'm not asking you to forgive him Fitz or me for that matter...just…understand that I'm here by choice. I love him." She said meeting Grant's eyes for the last sentence. She saw his eyes trying not to let tears form. She caressed his face and placed a soft kiss on his lips. "It's okay baby."

He nodded and cleared his throat. He looked to Fitz and noticed that the man seemed to look…ashamed.

"I'm sorry I wasn't more understanding before Skye." Fitz wiped away tears from his eyes. "I was…I was scared and I wasn't willing to see that Ward had changed. Coulson said you accused him of being like the old Hydra and…I think you're right. But I'm working on changing it…so you can come back."

"Oh…Fitz…I…I'm going to be working with Grant now. I'm going to be making my team of Inhumans. But if you ever need my help for anything I'm a call away and I'll come running."

"Oh." Fitz's face fell.

"Please don't be upset. I just…Coulson firing me was for the best. I'll never be able to work there again, not so long as Grant and I are together. They can never trust me again."

"We can work on it, please don't leave us all. I miss you…we miss you." Fitz said sadly. "Jemma is coming around and so is Mack. We can work it out."

"I'm so sorry Monkey." Skye apologized feeling bad that she had actually upset her friend by leaving.

"You're always welcome here Fitz. Bandit certainly seems to like you." Grant offered with a small smile.

"Yeah. I don't want to lose you Fitz. I've missed you so much these past two months." Skye said getting off of Grant's lap and going over to the couch, putting a hand on Fitz's knee. Fitz wrapped her in a hug and Skye squeezed him tight, her eyes tearing up.

"Please stay for dinner Fitz." Grant pleaded.

"Yeah, please. We'd love for you to stay. Grant's missed you too Fitz."

Grant looked down at the ground shyly and replied, "You were like my brother and I hate myself for being unable to protect you from Garrett."

Much to both Skye and Grant's surprise, Fitz got up and walked up to Grant, standing in front of him. Grant stood up and Fitz enveloped him in a hug as well. "I forgive you Ward."

This time Grant was unable to hold back tears and he held Fitz tighter. "I'm so sorry Fitz. Thank you."

More tears formed in Skye's eyes as she watched Fitz and Grant hug for longer than was probably appropriate. When they finally let go of one another, each man wiped tears from their eyes. As if to try and cheer up the mood in the room, Bandit yipped happily and ran around the room with a rubber chicken squeaking in his mouth. They all laughed at the puppy, moods feeling a little lighter than before.

"Please stay for dinner Fitz. We have more than enough." Skye begged.

This time Fitz caved. "Sure."

Smiles were present on everyone's faces during dinner and laughter was shared between the three. Their bridge with Fitz was being mended back together again.

XxxxXXxxxSkyeWardxxxXXxxxX

 **Three Months Later**

"Quake! We got an inhuman sighting!" Grant called out from across the warehouse where she was training with a small group of Inhumans.

"Another rescue mission?" She inquired.

"Yup. Suit up."

"You heard the man." Skye said with a grin. "Secret Warriors, assemble!"

Everyone there groaned. "Again with that? It's really not sticking." Lincoln grumbled.

"Hey, watch it Sparky." Grant cautioned.

"How many times do I have to tell you it's Electro?" Lincoln grumbled.

"It's not gonna change, you know that Linc." Joey chuckled.

"Then he'll just keep calling you Melty." Lincoln retaliated.

Joey shrugged. "Unlike you it doesn't bother me. Besides, I have a cool name."

"How is Blacksmith a cool name?" Lincoln asked with a smirk.

"I think it's cool." The other girl in the room spoke up.

"Of course you do…Janus, you can literally change your face and name." Lincoln scoffed.

"Alright team, come on. Someone needs our help. Hellfire, Electro, Blacksmith, Janus…suit up." Skye said with a grin.

"You heard Quake…suit up." Grant said looking at her with a smile.

While the team suited up Skye dragged him aside. "I'm so proud of you baby. You've really made something new out of Hydra and I couldn't be happier. You've made all of the Inhumans and others feel like they're somebody special and not a misfit and for that I'm very proud of you." She said kissing him happily.

"I couldn't have done it without a great partner. Ever since you've been here you made it better. You're the one that reminds us that nobody is nobody." Grant corrected kissing her back.

It was that moment her team walked back in with Bandit leading them. "Come on love birds, someone needs out help." Lincoln said with a roll of his eyes.

"You should hear them late at night in his office. Much worse then." Kebo chimed in as he walked past them and up to Grant handing him a tablet. Everyone's faces scrunched up in disgust letting Kebo know he had shared too much information. "Jet is all ready Director."

"Thanks, and no more sharing secrets of my sex life." Grant slugged Kebo in the shoulder playfully.

"Then take it elsewhere so I don't have to hear it from my office right beside yours."

Bandit rubbed against their legs requesting to be petted. "Ready boy? Someone is gonna need some loving from you." Skye said with a smile scratching behind the dog's ears. Bandit barked his reply, tail wagging.

"Alright team, let's go."

"You heard the Director. Get a move on. Time is of the essence." Skye said for reinforcement, looking at Grant with a smile. This was her work and she loved waking up every day to do it.

XxxxXXxxxSkyeWardxxxXXxxxX

"Grant hurry up! Fitz and Kebo are gonna get to our house before we do." Skye said urging him to go faster. Their mission had gone a little late and they were supposed to be having game night with Fitz and Kebo at seven but they still hadn't prepared any snacks or gotten the games out. It was five till seven and they were still a good fifteen minutes away.

"Just text them and let em know we're running late. I'm sure they'll understand Skye."

"Just hurry up Grant." Skye pushed again. Grant rolled his eyes and even Bandit groaned from the floor of Skye's side.

By the time they got there Fitz and Kebo were waiting outside the door with some snacks of their own. Fitz had fruit and cream cheese dip and Kebo had some pigs in a blanket. "Sorry we're late. Mission ran late." Grant explained with Skye offering even more apologies for being late.

"It's fine." Fitz assured with an easy grin.

"How'd it go?" Kebo asked.

"Good, my team is with the new Inhuman now." Skye informed unlocking the door and letting them in.

"How'd they take it?" Fitz asked curiously.

"Well…they were freaked out just like we all were when we first changed but…Skye and Lincoln really helped calm the kid down and Bandit being there helped too." Grant explained.

"Kid?" Fitz asked alarmed.

"Yeah. I think he's only like fifteen or so." Skye guessed taking the food from Fitz and putting it on the kitchen table. Kebo set his platter down beside Fitz's.

"Wow, I can't imagine being that young and having that happen to me." Fitz shook his head incredulous.

"Yeah. That's scary. Good thing the kid has got Skye to help him. She really set him at ease." Grant said proudly.

"She has that effect on people." Kebo added with a nod and smile.

"I'm gonna go change babe. I'll be out in a minute." Skye informed kissing his cheek and squeezing Fitz's shoulder as she walked out of the room.

"Alright." He said with a nod. Skye took her time to change into some jeans and one of Grant's T-shirts not wanting to wear pajamas with their guests around. When she walked back out into the living room the lights were off, candles were lit and there were rose petals on the ground in a path leading her towards Grant's office. Confused she followed the petals wondering what was going on. There was music playing in the background and she recognized the song.

 _Wise men say_

 _Only fools rush in_

 _But I can't help falling in love with you_

 _Shall I stay_

 _Would it be a sin_

 _If I can't help falling in love with you._

She found Grant in his office standing in the inside of a circle lined with the same rose petals that had led her there.

"Grant?" She asked wanting to know what was going on. He just smiled at her and took her hand pulling her into the small circle and began to dance to the song, singing the rest to her.

"Like a river flows

Surely to the sea

Darling so it goes

Some things are meant to be

Take my hand,

Take my whole life too

For I can't help falling in love with you

For I can't help falling in love with you _"_ His voice was soft and warm, filling her heart with warmth.

When the song ended he stopped dancing but held her in his arms still, gazing into her eyes. "I love you Skye. These last few months with you have been the best months of my life and I want to know if you would do me the honor of making me the happiest man alive and be my wife." He said with a smile going into his pocket and taking out a small box. Skye thought her heart had stopped beating and tears formed in her eyes as she watched him kneel. "Skye Johnson, love of my life, will you marry me?"

She half sobbed, half laughed as she said, "Yes! Yes! A thousand times yes!" He grinned and took the ring out of the box and slid it on her finger. When he stood up Skye threw her arms around him and kissed him like there was no tomorrow.

Fitz seemingly came out of nowhere cheering and hollering. Kebo was throwing confetti over the two of them shouting his own praises. Bandit came in and joined all the noise, barking his approval. Skye broke the kiss and laughed, her eyes shining in the dimly lit room. Fitz was still holding his phone and filming them all.

"How long have you been planning this for?" Skye asked incredulous that he had managed to keep this from her.

"Two weeks?" He said asking Fitz and Kebo who gave nods of agreement. "Yeah, two weeks."

Skye laughed again and peppered his face with kisses. "Should we reschedule game night so you two can have the night alone?" Fitz asked.

"Yeah, because I really can't handle hearing any more of your late night activities." Kebo said with a shudder.

Skye shook her head. "No, I can control myself but don't plan on sleeping tonight baby." She said to Grant who only smiled.

"Then let's go play some Cards Against Humanity already!" Fitz said excitedly clapping Grant on the back.

"This oughta be one interesting experience." Kebo said following Fitz out.

"I love you Grant Douglas Ward." Skye said with a kiss to his nose before following after the boys.

"I love you too Skye." He replied.

As they sat playing Cards Against Humanity, Skye wasn't sure when it had all started. Okay, no, she did know when. It had started exactly seven months ago one late Saturday night as she was sitting on the motel bed scrolling through Tumblr. What she didn't know was that she'd let it go on for so long, and that she'd become anxious when he wasn't there beside her. Was this where Skye imagined herself being now? Um…yeah no, but now she couldn't imagine not being here in this position. She was engaged to Grant Ward and she couldn't be happier. She had everything she could possibly need in life and she couldn't wait to continue to go through life with him beside her. And to think…this had all started with a phone call.

XxxxXXxxxSkyeWardxxxXXxxxX

 **End.**

 **Thanks for reading guys! Lemme know what you all thought! Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays everyone!**


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